Back to the Past
by shinigami sakura2000
Summary: Rewritten! Shang Tsung and Quan Chi open a portal to Raiden's past to keep him from becoming thunder god. When the Elder Gods find out, they have Raiden to send the Earthrealm warriors to find them before they have the chance to destroy him. What happens when one if them develops feelings for past Raiden? And how will it affect their mission? Slash
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm rewriting this because I was looking over it a while go and felt it was really, really bad. There were so many mistakes and things that could have been written better that I just had to redo it. Also there are some things in the fic that follow the movies, mainly Shao Kahn and Raiden being brothers and Shinnok as their father. I still hope everyone enjoys this new version!

Disclaimer: I don't own Mortal Kombat and most likely never will. The only thing I own are my MK games and the DVD's.

Summary: When Shang Tsung and Quan Chi open a portal to Raiden's past to keep him from becoming thunder god they put future of all of the realms in jeopardy. Raiden and the Elder Gods find out about this plot and send the Earthrealm fighters back in time to find them and bring them back to the present. When one of the fighters develops feelings for past Raiden, what will happen when they must return to the present. Slash! Liu/Raiden.

* * *

Raiden had no idea why he had been summoned to the temple of the Elder Gods. Everything had been relatively calm on Earth. Shinnok, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi were still banished to the Netherrealm and nothing had been heard out of Shao Kahn recently. He knew as he waited for the Gods to appear that his questions would be answered soon enough.

As if they had heard him, the spirits of the wind, water, and fire gods appeared in the respective places. Each of them waiting silently for the thunder god to speak.

Raiden wasted no time with his questions. He knew if they called him here, there had to be something big that was about to happen. "Why have you summoned me here?! Has there been a new threat to Earth?"

The fire god answered calmly, "There has been a new threat, but not against Earthrealm. It's against you this time."

Raiden was speechless. "What do you mean? Who's targeting me?"

This time the wind god answered, "Shinnok. We believe that he has joined forces with Shang Tsung and Quan Chi to rid the realms of you once and for all. He believes without you it will be easier to finally take out the Earth warriors and what better way to finally achieve his revenge against the god that first banished him to the Netherrealm."

"I don't believe this! If that's the case, it looks like that I'll be taking a trip to the Netherrealm to rid myself of that menace personally!"

"Silence!" The water god said sternly. "You know if you did that you'd be as powerless as a mere mortal. Besides, you have bigger problems to worry about than him. The deadly alliance has managed to open a portal five thousand years into the past, your past."

"W-what?! Five thousand years ago I-I was..."

"Yes we know and somehow they know too." The water god replied. "This why they need to be stopped. If they kill you in the past, everything here will change which I am sure they are well aware of. Gather your fighters and send them to Outworld, they should be able to get them back to present and you can handle all of them then."

Raiden nodded and left the temple, still in shock from the news. He had no time to dwell on it, he had to act fast and gather his fighters. They were running out of time and who knows what trials they were getting ready to face.

The sounds of sparring could be heard in the garden of the temple of the White Lotus Society. With the relative peace in Earthrealm lately, the monks still found no reason to become lax on their training and were having a friendly sparring session. As they sparred, Kung Lao noticed something different about his friend and rival. His moves were sluggish, his attacks barely had any force behind them, and he was just overall uncoordinated.

"All right Liu. What's going on with you? It's like your mind is a million miles away."

Liu sighed and sat on the ground, "I'm fine. It's just...I've been feeling a little off. I guess you could say I'm not used to the constant peace anymore."

Kung Lao chuckled, "Figures. You should be enjoying this. All of us could use a bit of down time every know and then. We never know when Raiden could appear warning us of the next big threat to Earth."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a blast of lightening struck the ground in front and they were left staring at the form of a very stressed thunder god. "Hello Liu, Kung Lao."

"R-Raiden? What are you doing here?" Kung Lao asked.

"We have a very grave situation. It's important that I gather you and the others and bring all of you here."

"What's going on?" Liu asked. "What's happened?"

The thunder god remained silent for a few moments before speaking once more. "I will explain when everyone is together. It is something I don't want to keep repeating to the others."

"Who else do you plan on getting?"

"Sub-Zero, Sonya, Jax, Kenshi, Kitana, and Jade. I will bring the others here and when I return you will have the answers you want." He pulled a map from his robes which had a secluded area not far from their temple circle and handed it to Liu. "I will meet you two there with the others in one hour. From there, you will receive your mission."

"Whatever you say Raiden. I guess we'll see you in an hour then." Liu replied. He didn't receive a response as Raiden just as quickly teleported away. "Whatever happened must be really bad."

"You mean everything else that has happened to Earthrealm wasn't really bad?" Kung Lao said.

Liu glared at him. "You know what I mean. He actually seems worried about what's happened."

"Don't think about it too much. We'll find out what happened in due time. Now let's just get to this area." Liu nodded and the two monks set off, one's mind focused on the mission and the other focused on their friend.

It was about an hour later when Raiden arrived with six other warriors in tow. Each one of them as confused and Liu and Kung Lao. They were in a heavily forested area of Earthrealm which appeared to be home to an old shrine. There was a large ancient circular structure in front of them with some unlit torches on either side.

"Now Raiden," Jax began. "You bring us all together, with no reason or explanation and I really don't like being kept in the dark. Can you finally tell us what the hell is going on here?!"

"I have to agree with Jax." Sub-Zero said. "This isn't like you Raiden. You would have have given us some information by now. What's so bad that you refuse to tell us anything?"

Raiden tightened his fist around his staff and the fighters heard the loud crashing sounds of thunder and the torches became lit, it was Raiden's silent way of telling the others to be quiet or they would learn nothing.

"I was summoned by the elder gods today. They told me that the deadly alliance has escaped from the Netherrealm and have opened a portal to...my past." he finished softly.

The was a chorus of gasps from the eight warriors and looks of surprise and shock on each of their faces. "How is that even possible?" Kitana asked. "They may both be powerful sorcerers, but to do something like that, they definitely need someone with major strength back them."

"It's believed they joined forces with Shinnok. I was the one that originally banished him to the Netherrealm and he's been after my head for centuries."

"That still makes no sense!" Jax shouted. "You can't kill an immortal. I know that much."

Raiden nodded. "That maybe true, but I wasn't always thunder god. I was born a mortal. It wasn't until I passed the three trials five thousand years ago that I gained my immortality and my role as protector of Earthrealm. Very few people know and it seems that somehow they've found about this and are going back to get rid of me while I'm still powerless."

The thunder god turned to the giant stone circle and held up his staff, a bolt of lightning hit it and the circle was filled with an eerie blue light. "This is a special portal that can transport people to the different realms at different points in time. This will take you all back five thousand years in the past. I can't force you to do this. It must be your own decision. As soon as you step through that portal, I cannot guarantee what will happen. Now are all of you sure about this?"

All of the fighters turned to each other and nodded. Kung Lao was the one that spoke. "Do you even have to ask? We owe you Raiden. We'll do whatever you need us to do."

"Thank you. Now I have to warn you, I won't be able to bring you back myself. All of you will be stranded there until I gain my powers as thunder god." He handed them a small medallion. "When that happens that medallion will activate, creating a portal that will bring all of you back to the present."

"Hold on." Liu said. "I understand why Shinnok is doing this, but what's in it for the deadly alliance? Kung Lao and I are the main fighters that prevented their invasions. Why aren't they going after us?"

"If I die there, I'm dead here." Raiden explained. "Since I was your teacher Liu, they believe that if I'm dead, you won't be strong enough to win the tournament. We must not let this happen."

He then walked over and clasped Liu on the shoulder. "I need to say this...If something does happen and I do die, you must promise that you will make sure that you will not let Earthrealm be taken over. I have faith in all of you. You are all powerful warriors which is why I called on you take this mission, but you still need to be prepared for the worst."

"Don't worry. You're not going to die. I'm going to make sure of that." Liu smiled and he and turned to the others and walked up the steps to the portal. "Are all of you ready?" The seven remained fighters walked up behind him, each ready to step inside.

"Wait!" Raiden called out. "You know I can't go with you. It would be too dangerous if my past self saw me, but none of you can reveal anything about the present time. It could alter the future in too many ways, and we can't take that chance. Now be careful."

Raiden stepped down from the portal and watched his warriors as they entered. First Kenshi and Sub-Zero, then Sonya and Jax, and next it was Kitana and Jade. Finally, as Kung Lao and Liu walked in, Liu sent him a final farewell nod as he walked into the light. The instant they disappeared, the light in the portal dispersed, leaving the thunder god completely alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Sadly I still don't own.

Summary: See chapter one.

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All of the warriors had traveled through portals before, but this was a whole new experience all together. As they exited the portal, they all fell to their knees in exhaustion. Liu looked at their surroundings. They seemed to had landed in the middle of some kind of forest. Even though it looked familiar, he still couldn't place it.

"Where are we?" Kenshi asked.

Jade looked around. The horrifying faces of the trees and the groans coming from them were a dead giveaway. "We're in Outworld. The living forest I believe."

"Outworld? Raiden lived in Outworld five thousand years ago?" Liu said in surprise. "This isn't where I thought we would end up."

"Me neither." Kitana said. "I figured we would just go back in Earthrealm's history."

"That's what I was thinking too, but we can talk about that later." Kung Lao said. "We have to find Raiden and fast. We don't know how much time or how much more information Shang Tsung and Quan Chi have on us."

Unknown to them, the two sorcerers were almost as clueless as they were. Even though they were the ones that had to carry out the plan, the fallen Elder God kept most of his knowledge to himself.

"This is foolish!" Quan Chi growled. "He could have easily told us where to find Raiden, instead he's gonna make us search all of Outworld for him!"

"Take it easy. You wouldn't want this to be too easy would you? It's not everyday we get to kill a thunder god and finally get our chance to take over Earthrealm." Shang said.

"That's true. We've waited for this-" The sorcerer stopped in his tracks and began looking around. "Quiet! Don't you hear that?!"

Shang Tsung became silent and listened. "The sounds of fighting. You think the Earthrealm warriors have found him already?"

"I highly doubt it. They probably don't even know about our plan yet. Come on! It's coming from that clearing over there." The two sorcerers ran over to the clearing, hiding behind some trees. The peering into the clearing and saw and man a little over six feet tall with shoulder length silver hair. They realized the noise had been coming from the tree he had been practicing on, and that he was in such deep concentration that he hadn't noticed them yet.

"Could it really be him?" Shang asked.

"His movements are so familiar. There can't be any other explanation." Quan Chi smirked, "We just found our target. Now stay quiet and we'll corner him. Since he's supposedly human now, he should hardly be a challenge."

They spread out, both of them going opposite ends of the clearing, effectively trapping the oblivious Raiden between them. Shang nodded at Quan Chi, who then made the motions to send a flaming skull at Raiden, just as Shang was about to hit him with a fireball. They fired their projectiles at the same time and both were heading at high speed for the same spot Raiden stood, but instead of hitting the mortal, both of their blasts completely demolished one of the trees.

"What the hell?!" Shang shouted.

"Where did he go? I didn't even see him move!"

As Quan Chi looked around, he was struck hard from behind. He staggered forward and turned back found Raiden, spinning his staff skillfully. "Who are you two? What do you want with me?!" He commanded.

Before he received an answer, Raiden was knocked forward by a kick to his back. He jabbed his staff backward and heard a grunt, knowing he had struck one of them. When he went to pull his staff back, Shang grabbed onto it and used it as leverage to pull him back and punched him in the jaw twice, knocking him off balance and making him lose his staff.

Shang threw the staff to the side and slipped back into his fighting stance. "Looks like we're gonna have to do this the hard way." He said before charging at him, fist raised. Raiden dodged the hit, but was instantly slammed into a tree by kick from Quan Chi. Slightly dazed, he jumped out of the way right when Quan Chi's fist struck the exact spot his head was, leaving a deep impression in the tree.

Shang came at him next, each of his moves quick and unpredictable. Raiden stayed on the defensive until finally saw an opening. He grabbed Shang's wrist and kicked him once in the stomach before giving him a powerful roundhouse kick to the head, dazing him. He refused to let up, hitting Shang with a strong uppercut that knocked him to the ground. Raiden smirked, "Is that all you got?"

He heard Shang growl before he was once more slammed into a tree, but this time he couldn't force any of his limbs to move. He struggled to get free and glared at Shang as he walked over to him, smirking evilly. "Let's kill him now! I've had enough of this."

Quan Chi stood back a few feet as he gathered his energy, he was gonna make sure he didn't miss this time. As the flaming skull flew towards Raiden, he smirked as well. Why wouldn't he? Everything, for once, was going according to plan. Raiden continued to struggle as the skull grew closer. There had to be something he could do, but Shang's hold was too strong on him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see something that looked like a ball of ice coming toward him, which ended up colliding with the skull and destroying it. The other man that had held him to the tree, suddenly began to glow blue as he was mysteriously raised into the air and thrown across the forest. He looked around and saw another group had joined them and they were the ones that had seemingly saved his life. He stealthily grabbed his staff and prepared for another fight, as he watched the two groups face off.

"I bet you weren't expecting to see us!" Jade shouted. "Did you really think we would let you get to Raiden so easily?"

"You just got lucky this time! There's no way we'll be letting either one of you escape from this time alive!" Quan Chi shouted.

Kung Lao scoffed. "Don't count on it. We've beat you before and we won't have any problems doing it again."

"If you're that eager to die monk, I'll be happy to send you to the afterlife!" As Quan Chi made a move towards them, an arm shot out in front of him.

"Now is not the time. We need to regroup." Shang whispered harshly. Quan Chi shot the Earthrealm fighters one final glare before the two of them disappeared.

"Well at least we know where they are." Sonya said. "Now we have to keep an eye on Raiden." The group turned and saw the future thunder god staring at them in confusion and apprehension. Liu had already begun walking towards him.

"Your name is Raiden. Isn't it?" He asked.

Raiden took a few steps back. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I'll explain later after we get out of this forest."

"I guess I should repay you for helping me. You know who those two men were that attacked me?"

Liu nodded. "Yes, I do. That's why we need to go. We'll be able to explain more once we get you out of here."

"Fine. Grab your friends and follow me and stay close. I don't need all of you getting lost in here." Liu motioned to the rest of the group and they began to follow Raiden out of the forest. They took note of everything they passed. The sorcerers could have been hiding anywhere.

Raiden led them through a small village and they all tried not notice how the villagers cowered in fear when Raiden walked passed. He led them through a courtyard where there were a two lines of guards int the courtyard, each armed with spear. Finally he stopped in front of two large wooden doors. "Well here we are. You wanted some place safe to talk, didn't you?"

"Where exactly have you brought us?" Sub-Zero asked curiously.

"Home. This is my father's castle." The castle was completely made of stone and looked like it was something out of medieval times. There was another smaller courtyard on the side of the castle where there was another group of guards were standing. Fashioned on the walls were carvings of dragons, that seemed to stare at them so closely that it might be thought they were alive.

"Y-you live here Raiden?" Sonya asked in shock.

"Yes. Is there some sort of problem with that?"

Sonya shook her head. "No. Not at all. I was just a bit surprised."

"Alright. Well come in. We can can talk inside." Raiden pulled opened the doors and the fighters came face to face with two people they were most surprised to see. Shao Kahn and Shinnok stood in front them, standing silently as if they had been waiting for them. Raiden bowed slightly to both of them. "Father. Brother." he said coolly.

"Raiden." Shinnok said with just as little emotion. "I see you've brought some guests back with you. Who are they?"

"I met them while I was training in the living forest. It seems that they had gotten lost and heard me practicing, so I brought back them back with me. That isn't a problem, is it father?"

Shinnok remained silent before giving a slight nod. "It's fine. Now if you'll excuse us. We have some business to attend to. I'll guess I'll be seeing all of you this evening then. Raiden will show you around. Let's go Kahn." With that, father and son walked off, leaving the group in the hall.

"That was tense." Jax muttered.

"No." Raiden said. "That's what I call normal. Now that they're gone, I do believe its time to talk. I don't even know your names. Who exactly are you?"

Liu spoke up first and introduced himself and then the others. "My name Liu Kang, and these are my friends, Sub-Zero, Kitana, Kenshi, Jade, Kung Lao, Jax, and Sonya."

"And I assume you know the two men that attacked me?"

"Yes. They were two very powerful and very evil sorcerers. We've had problems with them in the past."

Raiden nodded. "I see. Well after what happened I'm sure you would like some time to rest up. " He led them down a corridor to another set of heavy double doors and opened them to reveal what seemed to be a library. "People rarely come in here, so I know you won't be bothered. I will be back for you this evening, so please stay here. The guards tend to kill strangers on sight." The doors slammed with a loud bang as Raiden shut them, letting the fighters breathe in a sigh of relief.

Kung Lao sighed. "Liu are you sure what you did was wise? Giving him our names like that?"

"None of them would know us. We're five thousand years in the past. I'm not even sure if our ancestor Kung Lao has is even alive yet."

"That keeps most of us out of danger, but what about Jade and Kitana? We don't know about what Shinnok and Kahn are up to at this time. They could already know about Edenia."

"I don't think so." Kitana said. "When Kahn took over Edenia, Shinnok was out of the picture and he was already emperor. None of that seems to have happened yet."

"Well our identities are safe for now, but along with Shang and Quan Chi we have to worry about Kahn and Shinnok." Kenshi said. "We don't know much about them during this time, and it already seems like they're plotting against Raiden. Something didn't seem right between them back there."

"Obviously. We'll keep an eye out for them." Sub-Zero said. "We have to focus on the deadly alliance right now."

Th doors suddenly opened once again, startling the fighters out of their conversation. Raiden stood in the doorway, as stoic and serious as he looked in the present. "My father has requested your presence at dinner. He seems to be quite curious about all of you." He stepped out of the doorway and a guard appeared. "He will take you to the dining hall."

As the eight warriors walked passed him, Raiden caught on to Liu's arm and pulled him back. "I would like to speak to you for a moment." He gestured to the guard who then began shuffling the others down the hall. "In private if you don't mind."

"Is there a problem?"

"No. Not at all." Raiden glanced out in the hall and made sure it was clear before continuing. "It's just...I need a favor from you."

Liu raised quirked a brow at this. Raiden needing a favor from him? Something didn't seem right about that. "What is it?"

Raiden glanced out of the room again and stared at Liu intently. "I need you to help with my training."

"Training? What kind of training?"

Raiden saw another guard pass by and grabbed Liu's arm and began pulling him down the hall. "I'll explain it to you a bit later. My father is expecting us and he doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Liu followed him in silence. He was still in surprise about what he had seen in Raiden's past so far, but he knew with their luck, it was only bound to get worse.


	3. Chapter 3

In the shadows outside of the castle, two figures stood watching the movement of the future thunder god and Earthrealm's champion. Quan Chi glared at the two, using every ounce of his control from going in there and slashing them to pieces.

"Don't do anything that will get you killed." Shang said calmly. "I may not trust you, but I'm not gonna do this alone."

Quan Chi scoffed at him, "We should have killed him in the forest when we had the chance!"

"We can't dwell on it now. He's protected by the Earthrealm fighters and we have to find a way to separate them. With all eight of them together plus Raiden, we can't take them out alone."

"What about Shinnok and the emperor?"

"What about them? We can't reveal ourselves to them. We don't even know whose side they are on right now."

The tattooed sorcerer sighed. "You're right. We'll have to stay out of sight from them as well, just in case they have heard of us."

Shang suddenly grinned, "I do have a plan on how to at least weaken them a bit." He started walking back toward the forest. "We need to hurry. The Earthrealm fools will most likely start searching for us tomorrow."

Quan Chi nodded and began to follow him, but not before sparring one more glare toward the castle. _All in good time. _He thought. The sorcerer couldn't help but smirk as he thought about how easy it will be to take over Earthrealm without those worthless protectors to block his every plan.

Liu continued to follow silently behind Raiden as he was led to the dining hall where the others were waiting. He hadn't said anything else about him helping with his training or what the training was even for, and with how much on guard Raiden seemed to look, he wasn't going to push it.

They continued to walk to a long corridor, lit only by the torches hanging on the walls until they came upon another set of wooden double doors. Raiden pulled them open and walked inside, followed by Liu. The dining hall was more brightly lit then the previous parts of the castle. There were tall stained glass windows on the far wall and standing beneath them was a line of servants, each of them wearing a long hooded cloak and their heads bowed, so it was impossible to see their faces.

In the center of the room was a long ornately decorated table covered in different foods and drink. Shinnok sat at the head of the table while everyone else sat around him. Raiden silently walked over to the table and took a seat besides his brother and beckoned Liu to do the same.

Shinnok was the first to speak. "I didn't get the chance earlier to introduce myself properly. I am Shinnok, the current ruler of Outworld." He gestured to Shao Kahn and Raiden. "And you've met my sons, Raiden and Shao Kahn."

Shao Kahn turned his icy glare to each of fighters before stared curiously at Liu. "I have never seen any of you before and none of you look like you come from this realm. Where exactly are all of you from?"

"Sonya, Jax, Sub-Zero, Kenshi, Kung Lao, and I come from Earthrealm and Jade and Kitana are from Edenia." Liu explained.

Shao Kahn smirked at the mention of Edenia and looked at Kitana, "Very interesting realm. I've been there, and have been very interested in it since my visit. It is very beautiful and supposedly has a beautiful queen to go along with it."

Raiden glanced at the two Edenians and noticed how uncomfortable they both appeared to be, especially Kitana, and decided it was best to change the subject. "Brother, I'm sure that there are other things for us to talk about than any of your foolish prospects for future conquests."

Shao Kahn glared at his brother and growled, "You're the foolish one! Even after all of these years you still don't understand anything. How do you think we gained this castle and all the riches the came along with it? You'll never have a chance at become father's successor if you remain like this."

"Have you ever thought that I don't want to become father's successor?" Raiden replied calmly.

Just as Shao was about to reply, Shinnok silenced them both. "That's enough! From both of you! You can settle whatever issues you have with each other in three days during your fight, but you will not do it now." He glanced at the Earthrealm fighters, "Raiden, show your guests to their rooms."

"You're allowing them to stay here father?"

"Yes." He hissed, "Now go before I change my mind. I would like to have a word with your brother in private."

Raiden ushered the fighters out of the room and and Shinnok locked the doors behind him before turning to Kahn. "I told you to make a truce with your brother. We don't need any problems out of him."

"But father! he-"

Shinnok silenced him. "I do not care. There will be a time and place for this. Right now he needs to be kept in the dark and after the final trial is over we can put our plan into action. It is only when Raiden is out of the way that we can take the realms for ourselves." He glanced at the door for a moment. "I have a job for you son."

"What is it?"

"Find out everything you can about those fighters Raiden brought here. I don't trust them. They seem to be a bit attached to him. I want to know why."

Kahn nodded. "Of course father. I'll began looking right away."

Raiden had quickly led them from the dining hall and down another more darker corridor. It was dimly lit with torches and and at various points there were guards posted outside of certain doors. After walking for a few more moments, Raiden stopped in front of a door. He opened it to reveal a small room with a window, two beds and a small table. "All of your rooms will be down this hall. Now Kitana and Jade this will be your room."

He moved farther down the hall and opened another door. "Since there are an odd number of women, you will have your own room Sonya." He continued to move down the hall and showed the other fighters their rooms until it was only him and Liu left together.

"What about me?" Liu asked.

Raiden continued walking until he stopped at another door. "If you don't mind, you will be sharing with me. Is that all right?"

"It's no problem."

"Good. I was hoping we could talk a bit more. I still have some things I wish to tell you. It might make my earlier request a bit easier to understand."

When Raiden walked into this room, Liu could see that it was larger and more lavish than the other ones. There was a wardrobe in the corner and on the wall beside it was a weapons rack where his staff and a few more weapons hung. A desk sat against a wall covered in papers and other various things. There were a few windows on the far wall and a small amount of light came in, giving the room a slight glow. In the center of the room there was a large bed, covered in dark red blankets.

Raiden sat on the bed. "I hope you don't mind sharing a bed. It was the best I could do on short notice. Please come sit." He gestured to the space beside him and Liu sat down.

"I guess I should explain." He paused in thought for a moment before continuing. "It's time for the three trials to choose my father's successor. The first two, a test of courage and a test of will, have been completed by both my brother and I. The final trial, a test of strength, is a fight between the both of us."

"I understand why you need my help." Liu definitely did. Shao Kahn was an extremely strong opponent, and while he had no doubt that Raiden could beat him, he knew he would need some help. "I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Raiden smiled, a sight that Liu thought he would never see. "Thank you Liu. I cannot explain to you how much this means to me." Looking at Raiden smiling like that, Liu couldn't help but smile back. This Raiden was so much different than the one he knew and he to admit he was enjoying the difference.

Then a thought occurred to Liu and he looked at him seriously. "Is that why you wouldn't say anything in front of the guards? You didn't want your brother and father to find out?"

Raiden's smile dropped and his eyes grew angry,"Exactly. I couldn't begin to think of what my father would do if he found out I was receiving any help. I personally couldn't care less, but I wouldn't want the one helping me to be punished. He's probably already suspicious about all of you."

Liu patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry about me. My friends and I can handle Shinnok and Kahn just fine. Now get some rest. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

He waited until he was sure Raiden was sound asleep before slipping out of the room. Liu made his way back to the library where Raiden had brought them earlier to find the others already waiting.

"What took you so long?" Kung Lao asked.

"Raiden just fell asleep. I couldn't have him asking questions about where I was going."

Kitana looked at him thoughtfully, "It's still hard to believe that this Raiden will become the one we know. They're just so different."

"I know." He said softly before turning to the others. "What's the plan for tomorrow? We have only three days to find them."

"How do you figure that?" Sub-Zero asked.

"Remember Raiden told us about the three trials that he bestowed him his powers. Well Raiden just told me that the final trial is a fight between him and Shao Kahn, and as we all heard at dinner, it will take place in three days." Liu explained.

Kung Lao nodded. "The deadly alliance doesn't know this, so we might have an advantage over them for right now. We need to split up and start searching for them."

"Jade, Kenshi, and I can search the living forest." Kitana offered. "They have to be staying somewhere. Outworld is so different from our time, that they may have decided to stay in a familiar place."

"All right. Jax, Sub-Zero and I will check the nearby villages. The two of them don't exactly blend in, even in Outworld. Someone might be able to give us a clue or at least point us in the right direction." Kung Lao turned back to Liu. "I take it you'll be staying here then?"

"Yes. He asked me to help train him for his fight and we need someone here to guard him anyway. I think he trusts me. I might be able to get him to tell me more about Shinnok and Kahn because of what happened at dinner and with what Raiden told me, we might have to watch out for them as well."

"I'll stay behind too." Sonya said. "I'm with Liu. After tonight I trust those two even less than I did before. Maybe I could get something out of Kahn."

"All right. Both of you stay on guard tomorrow. Now we should get back to our rooms before any guards come in here." Liu said. Everyone nodded and left the room, each of them going their separate ways and trying not to attract any attention.

Liu walked back into Raiden's room, trying not to wake up the other man. Liu was a bit uncomfortable sharing a bed with his future teacher, but soon got over it. He knew he had bigger and more important things to worry about. Liu slipped into bed beside him and watched him for a moment.

"I promised I wouldn't let you die and I plan on keeping that promise no matter what." He whispered softly before falling into a light sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

When Liu woke up the next morning, the warm weight on top of him instantly caused a panic before he woke up enough to realize that it was his future mentor. Apparently, during the night, Raiden had curled up to him and while Liu knew that thought should worry him, he found it oddly comforting. He glanced over at the window and the few beams of sunlight that began to pour in through it and knew it head to very early. He gently moved Raiden away slipped out of the room.

He quickly returned to the library where he found the others waiting anxiously. "Sorry I'm late."

Kung Lao smirked, "Enjoying your time with our future thunder God I see. Its no problem. We do need him to trust us after all and getting close to him is really the best way to do that."

A deadly glare was payment for that comment. "Now isn't the time. Do not talk about him like that." Liu said angrily. "Maybe for once you could try focusing on the problem at hand."

Before the argument could escalate further Kitana stepped in. "That is enough! Both of you! Now lets get back to our plans." She turned to the Special Forces agent. "What will you be doing while Liu is with Raiden?"

"You guys have the deadly alliance covered, so I'll take care of the emperor. I'll look around the castle and see what I can find out. Maybe I can figure out what those two are up to."'

Sub-Zero nodded. "That is a good idea. We need all sides covered." He nodded to the others. "Let's get out of here before the guards become suspicious." The six kombatants crept silently out of the library, trying not to attract any unwanted attention.

"Liu" Sonya asked as they watched their friends leave. "I'm gonna look around a bit more. There has to be some clues to what Shao Kahn and Shinnok are up to. You should get back to Raiden before he wakes up."

Liu nodded. "Be careful Sonya. We know those two don't trust anyone and they're probably looking for a way to get rid of us...and possibly Raiden right now."

Raiden awoke with a start. He had been having the same dream on and off for years and it was always the same: Him being killed by his older brother. Although, this time it was a bit different. Right as Kahn was about to strike the finishing blow, he was enveloped in this bright light, almost like lightning. Then the dream ended. He'd had visions before but nothing ever quite so vivid.

He felt to his side, expecting to feel a warm body next to him, but his hand only found the cold sheets. The door cracked open then, revealing the person he had been looking for. "Liu...where were you?"

The monk took in his mentor's confused appearance and went to his side. "Raiden is there something wrong?"

Raiden shook his head,"No it's nothing. I'm fine."

"You didn't look it. Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Now where were you?"

"My friends left early this morning to look for those two men that attacked you, and I was seeing them off."

Raiden nodded, "So you after them then? Is that why you were in the forest?"

Liu hesitated. He had to watch his words or everything would be ruined. "Yes, that is unfortunately why we were there." He decided to change the subject before Raiden could ask anymore questions. "Now come on. You asked for my help and we should get started.

"Right."

The two then headed down to the courtyard, each of them weary of the guards gaze upon them. Liu Lang and Raiden faced off in the golden sands of the courtyard, sizing up the other and waiting to see who would make the first attack. It was Liu, charging at the other man fist with his raised high. The silver haired man dodged the blow quickly and sent a kick into Liu's ribs. The monk rebounded quickly, landing a kick to the center of Raiden's back, causing the man to stumble forward.

He decided to follow up his attack with another kick, but was stopped short from a roundhouse from Raiden, which knocked him off balance and onto his back. Raiden staggered back and smirked, " I was expecting more from you. Is that really all you have to show me?"

The monk just returned the smirk, wiping the blood from his lip as he stood. " I'm just getting started my friend, just getting started."

The two charged toward each other again, and quickly began exchanging blows. The dark Outworld sun grew brighter overhead as they continued to fight. Even during this time their strength was even as during the hours they fought with neither gaining the upper hand.

"Liu?" Raiden panted, "Would you like to take a break for a few minutes? We've been at this for a while, and I believe both of us could use a break."

The monk nodded. "You read my mind. You're pretty good Raiden. I don't see why you would need my help against your brother."

"Thank you. I appreciate the compliment, but you haven't seen good until you seen my brother and my father." He sighed as he continued, "I honestly just want these trials to be done with. I'll be glad to be free of them."

"I thought that if you win the trials you become father's successor?" Liu asked.

"I would, or when I lose I'll either be killed or exiled from Outworld forever."

"And you're telling me you would be fine with that? Maybe you could do some good with the powers of an elder god and emperor of Outworld." Liu froze as soon as he said this. _Damn_, _This is not good. I hope he didn't realize what I said. I need to be more careful._

Liu's hopes went unanswered as Raiden quirked an eyebrow at him as he said, "You mean fallen Elder God, but how did you know that? I don't remember telling you."

"I had overheard Kahn mention it yesterday. Saying how enjoyable it would be to to crush the other realms with the powers of an Elder God at his disposal." He said quickly.

It didn't seem like Raiden had bought his story, but he decided to let it go for the moment. "I guess I could do some good, for centuries I have done whenever my father told me. Haven't you noticed the way the villagers cower at my feet? We've taken everything from them and the longest time I couldn't find it in myself to feel bad about it."

"And now you can?"

"I have to get rid of this evil feeling inside of me, and I don't believe becoming the ruler of Outworld would help. I fear it would make me just like them. That's why I don't care about these trials. They're pointless to me." Raiden sighed. "Sometimes, I can't believe my father was an Elder God."

Liu had never seen Raiden so depressed, in fact, he had never seen his mentor depressed at all. He was always the one that watched out for them and looked over them, and now Liu decided that it was his turn to be the protector. "Come on you want to beat your brother don't you?" At the hesitant nod he continued, "Then let's keep going. We still have plenty of time and I'll do whatever I can to help you."

Raiden smiled, a look that Liu still had trouble getting used to and said, "Thank you so much. There may not be much I can do to stand up to my father and brother, but at least this is a start. I just want to say that after this is over, I will forever be in your debt."

"Trust me, it is I that will be forever in your debt my friend." Liu fell back into his fighting stance. "Now let's get back to work."

Meanwhile, in the living forest, Kitana, Jade, Kenshi were trekking cautiously through the growling and moaning trees. "My lady," Jade said, "We have yet to find anything here. There's only so many places that Shang Tsung and Quan Chi could be hiding."

"You have a point Jade. Luckily, it is only the two of them that we have to worry about." Kitana said calmly.

Kenshi had remained silent through the exchange, instead focusing his hearing on their surroundings. Halfway through the forest, he had felt another presence following them. "Ladies, I believe we are being followed."

"So you felt it too?" Jade asked.

"Yes, there has been something following us since we entered the forest. I haven't been able to locate it until now. It appears that we might have more to worry about than just the sorcerers."

"Who else would be around during this time that could possibly be of help to them?" Jade said.

"Nobody." Kitana said. "Neither Shang Tsung or Quan Chi would be foolish enough to risk their mission by revealing their identities to someone."

Before they had a chance to contemplate this new threat further, something suddenly sent Jade rushing forward, landing face first against the side of one of the trees. "What was that?!" Jade exclaimed.

Kitana looked around the trees, her fans out and ready. Kenshi had drawn his sword and was intently listening to the sounds of forest, waiting for that one single sound to give their attacker away. "Kitana do you hear anything?" he asked.

"No, nothing at all."

Again the warning was the sound of wind whistling as something hit Kenshi square in the chest, sending him directly into the mouth one of the trees. Kenshi yelled as the wooden mouth closed on his back, ripping his uniform and tearing the skin along with it.

As Jade rushed to Kenshi's side and freed him from the tree's grasp, Kitana stayed on guard. "Show yourself sorcerer! I thought you wanted to fight!" Kitana shouted.

The tattooed sorcerer finally revealed himself, stepping out of a portal and into the clearing where the three other fighters stood. "Finally a little action. I was hoping to kill one if you while I'm here. I was beginning to get bored."

"You'll fail at this Quan Chi! Just like you have failed at everything else!" Jade said.

"Quiet you piece of Edenian trash! You, your princess and this worthless swordsman stand no chance against me. Looks like we're going to get to kill that worthless thunder God and get rid of some trouble as well."

As soon as the sorcerer went to attack, a forceball suddenly appeared and knocked him to the ground. He growled at the interruption and his hands began to glow, "Looks like I get to add one more person to my list of people to die!"

The four warriors watched in amazement as the invisible blur suddenly became visible, and it revealed itself to be none other than a certain green clad ninja.

"REPTILE!" Quan Chi shouted. "What are you doing here?!"

The reptilian ninja ignored the sorcerer and instead focused on the three kombatants. "The emperor will be very pleased at what I've learned and now I can enjoy the part of my mission where I get to kill you all!"

"What?!" Quan Chi was shocked for a moment until he remembered that this wasn't his time. This Reptile had no allegiance to him, so as far as he was concerned Quan Chi was just another target to this Reptile, but maybe he could use this to his advantage. He silently got up and hid behind one of the trees. He didn't mind playing back up for this mission. He could still take out the Earthrealm warriors, he just had to stay under Reptile's radar to do so.

Reptile hissed as he turned to the Earthrealm fighters, before becoming invisible again. He had always had the element of surprise on his side and he wasn't going to waste it. He quickly fired two forceballs at Kitana, the first which she was able to block but the second managed to take her by surprise, launching her into the air and and leaving horrible acid burns on her stomach.

She managed to land on her feet and and quickly threw one of her fans in the direction of the forceballs. She knew all it took was one hit to shake Reptile's illusion, and that was all she'd need. She was lucky. As her fan sailed forward she heard the satisfying slashing sound and the trails of green blood hit the ground as Reptile appeared again.

Before he could move, he was surrounded by a blue light as he was slammed between two of the trees. As the glow dissipated Reptile was suddenly knocked against one of the trees by Jade's staff. As Kitana turned to Jade, her eyes widened "Jade! Look out!", but it was too late.

A skull blast followed by another hit her in the back, sending her down to her knees. Before either of the Earthrealm fighters could make a move, the sorcerer had disappeared again, this time reappearing over Jade before stomping her mercilessly into the ground. With a final stomp, he stepped off of her and kicked her cruelly against one of the trees. He looked up and smirked at Kitana.

"Now it's just you and me princess."

Kenshi continued to hold Reptile against the tree as he charge toward him, but as he grew closer, he could feel instantly that it was a trap, and soon felt the agonizing burn of acid against his chest. Reptile had removed his mask and spewed a long stream of acid at the swordsman, continuing until Kenshi had lost his hold on him completely. He then quickly got up from the tree and grabbed Kenshi's arm as he began landing multiple kicks against the swordsman's bloodied body. He could feel the bones cracking under the force of his legs which only served to excite him further. He landed one last kick to Kenshi's arm before kneeing the other warrior in the head.

Reptile dropped Kenshi to the ground and surveyed his surroundings as he silently left the forest to report back to Kahn. The mysterious sorcerer was still fighting the blue garbed woman from the emperor's castle, and the swordsman would not be moving anytime soon. Reptile had made sure of that. The green garbed woman was struggling to begin to stand and help her companion. He snorted, his job may have been to kill them, but he had learned enough to keep his master on guard against these fighters and it seemed that the sorcerer had this under control.

Kitana had been holding own against the sorcerer, but it seemed like nothing she did was weakening him. As she blocked another skull blast she began to feel strange, it was as if she had been frozen, but when her arms began to move against her will that's when she she realized the skull blast was a distraction. The sorcerer wanted her to let her guard down, so he'd be able to use his spell.

Quan Chi smirked, "Now let's see those fans do some damage to their owner, shall we?" Kitana's hands had spread out her fans and slowly began to move over her torso, the blades digging into skin as they passed. Her arms began to move quicker and the slashes become more numerous, until her torso and legs were nothing but red. Finally, her hands threw down her fans and she was forced to stand stock still, her blood still flowing freely from her wounds.

"Now let's see what these trees can do to that beautiful body of yours." Kitana began to move again, this time toward one of the trees that had its mouth open, as if waiting for her. Kitana struggled against the spell, trying as hard as she could to keep her arm from entering the tree's mouth, but the spell proved to be too strong. Slowly but surely, her arm was in the dark pit of the tree and the mouth instantly shut, not hard enough to chop it off, but with enough force to shatter every bone. Kitana screamed loudly, not even the force of the spell could keep this pain silent.

Slowly the mouth crept open, and Kitana made the move rip her arm out of the tree and nearly fell back in surprise when she found out she was in control of her body again. She turned back to where Quan Chi and noticed the sorcerer moving strangely. He moved as if he was in pain, then there was a sudden movement before he staggered forward again. That's when she looked behind him, kneeling at the tree she had been kicked into, Jade held one of her razorangs in her hand, ready to fire again. Kitana looked back to Quan Chi, was now facing Jade and ready to fire another skull blast and saw three razorangs embedded in his back.

She ran as fast as her wounds would allow and leaped into the air, landing a flying kick to Quan Chi's back and pushing the blades deeper inside. She used her uninjured arm and grabbed one her fans from the ground and impaled it through the back of the sorcerer's leg, sending him to his knees. She opened her fan readying it for the lethal blow before she was suddenly slammed against another tree, unable to move. She quickly saw why. Quan Chi had taken control of Kenshi's weakened and bloody body and forced him to use his telekinetic abilities. Quan smirked and stood, "This isn't over you Earthrealm scum. Neither you or Raiden will make it out of here alive." With that he opened another portal and stepped through, leaving the three warriors alone with the moans and groans of the forest.

Kitana slowly made her way over Jade and helped her stand. "Are you all right?"

Jade nodded. "I'll be fine. Nothing a little time won't fix. We should see to Kenshi."

The two Edenians made their way to the limp form of the Earthrealm swordsman and the heard him groan softly. "What the hell just happened here?" he said.

"I'm not completely sure. I was expecting Quan Chi but what was Reptile doing here?" Jade asked.

Kitana sighed, "I don't know, but we need to get back to the castle. It seems like we have to worry about much more than just the deadly alliance. I really hope the others are all right."

They slowly began their trek out the forest. They knew now with the appearance of another one of their enemies, this mission had just become much more dangerous and none of them had any idea on what to expect next.


	5. Chapter 5

Sonya glanced around quickly before heading down another corridor. She had been tracking Kahn for most of the day, but hadn't been able to learn much of anything. All day he had been moving from his study to working with his soldiers. He hadn't even spoken to Shinnok at all. This really surprised Sonya, for him to be a power hungry emperor that controlled nothing but pure evil in the future, this Kahn was actually somewhat boring.

Sonya was snapped from his thoughts when she heard the wind whistling behind her, she saw a flash of silver and and quickly jumped and flipped over it. She heard the resounding crash when Kahn's war hammer embedded itself in the wall behind her. She looked up in anger when she saw the future warlord glaring daggers at her from a few feet away.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I demand to know why you have been following me!" Kahn bellowed.

Sonya thought quickly for a plausible story as Kahn began to advance on her. "I heard Raiden say you were quite the leader!" she shouted. Kahn stopped, eyebrow raised in curiosity. A slow smirk spread across his face. She knew there was no quicker way to get his attention then to talk about his military pursuits.

"Really now? And why would that be of any importance to you?"

"Where I come from in Earthrealm I'm considered quite the leader too, especially when it comes to military endeavors. It runs in my family."

The smirk on Kahn's face grew wider. "Come with me. You may be of some use to me, and I'm sure my idiot brother would become a larger thorn in my side if I did anything to one of his guests."

Sonya followed him wearily as he led her down another corridor and to a set of large double doors. "Even though my father has forced me to stop all conquests until the trials are over, I could still use some input for my first conquest as emperor of Outworld from someone who is familiar with the military like you say you are."

A feeling of dread filled Sonya as she thought about where he could possibly be talking about, but she shook it off. She had do this. They needed to know what Shinnok and Kahn were up too. "I know enough that I should be of use, but I want something in return."

A scowl quickly replaced the pleased smirk. "I don't make deals. You either help me or I'll send you back to my brother in pieces no matter what problems he'll cause for me afterward." Sonya remained silent as Kahn opened the doors and stepped inside. "Now follow me."

Sonya calmly stepped inside the room which appeared to be a large study. The books and multiple maps of Outworld didn't surprise her, but as she walked over to the side of the room she saw a giant glass case filled with weapons, but that wasn't the strange thing. Every weapon had a set of hands connected in the places where the weapons would usually be held.

Kahn noticed her curiosity and grinned. "They're trophies of my previous conquests. With of course the hands of the people that dared rise up against me still connected to them. Staring at these amuses me greatly, what else could bring more entertainment that reminders of the suffering of the people you crushed!"

Sonya looked on in horror and shock as she continued to stare at the case as Kahn laughed behind her. _Liu, I hope you're having better luck with Raiden then I am with Kahn._

The monk panted as he wiped the small trickle of blood from his forehead. Raiden's last hit had got him good. Liu was slightly surprised at how good Raiden's skills were. He expected him to be good, but deep down he had always thought that the amount of skill he possessed had a little something do to with his godly powers and immortality.

"Come on Liu." Raiden called. "Shall we continue? We won't have the light for too much longer."

Liu nodded. "Of course." As he dropped back into his fighting stance he couldn't help but think about his friends. _They have been gone for most of the day. If they found the deadly alliance, they should have been able to handle them. I just hope they make it back by nightfall._ He took a glance up at the setting Outworld sun as he began to dodge Raiden's blows._ Since I have no doubt Outworld becomes more dangerous when you're not able to see._

Sub-Zero looked up at the sky as they walked into the next village. "We're losing the light quickly. We'll need to head back if we don't find any leads here."

Jax sighed. "I don't believe this! We've been gone all day and nothing! We haven't been able to find one trace of Shang Tsung here."

"Keep your cool Jax." Sub-Zero said calmly. "Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. We don't know if they have anyone else on their side and they probably still don't know where Raiden is and I highly doubt they'll show themselves to Kahn or Shinnok. We just have to be patient."

Kung Lao chuckled humorlessly, "We wait patiently to be attacked is that it? I don't think so. I'd prefer finding and capturing, if not killing them, by tonight. At least that would give us one less thing to worry about."

"What is up with you man?!" Jax yelled, glaring at the monk. "You've more and more like a jerk since we got here and its beginning to piss me off."

"While its none of your business, I've been sensing this odd tension between Liu and Lord Raiden and I personally don't like it. I don't want extra problems that would jeopardize us or Raiden in anyway."

Jax smirked, "Jealous that Raiden's still showing favoritism to Liu even thousands of years n the past?"

Kung Lao didn't even bother to answer him, the next thing Jax knew was that he was stumbling sideways from the force of the monk's punch. He was about to throw one of his own when the Lin Kuei stepped between them, grasping their fists in his own.

"We don't have time for this!" he bellowed. He turned to Jax, his eyes narrowed in an angry glare. "Stop provoking him, and you!" He said turning to Kung Lao. "Stop worrying about Liu and Raiden. All you're probably seeing is remnants of their relationship from the-"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when he suddenly released his companions hands and slid backwards leaving an ice clone in his wake, which seconds later was promptly destroyed with a fireball. The three Earthrealm warriors looked around quickly for their assailant and soon found him, standing on one of the roofs of one the huts in the village.

"Shang Tsung! You finally show yourself sorcerer." Kung Lao shouted.

The shape shifting sorcerer chuckled as he jumped from the roof and sauntered cockily over to the other fighters. "Now we can do this the easy way and you tell me where the Thunder God is and then I kill you or the hard way where I beat you to within an inch of your life, you tell me where the Thunder God is and then kill you all. Your choices should not take long."

Shang Tsung easily tilted his head as the blade rimmed hat flew passed him. "I guess you've chosen the hard way then." His hands began to glow with fire as fell into his fighting stance. "I was hoping you'd do that." Makes this mission a little less boring for me."

"Oh give it up Shang Tsung! You're outnumbered three to one. Even with your powers you have no chance against the three of us." Jax yelled.

That just caused him to laugh more, "Well maybe you have a point. I guess I'll need a little help." With that, two simultaneous blasts shot from behind Shang and knocked both Kung Lao and Jax back into the houses behind them.

"And just what kind of trickery is this?!"

Shang Tsung didn't answer. He didn't have to. For as soon as the words left Sub-Zero's mouth, his eyes widened as the owners of the blasts came forward. The snarling, mutated faces of Baraka and another tarkatan warrior appeared. Shang just smirked, "Apparently their orders are to destroy you anyway, so I figured why not give them a helping hand!"

No more words were said as fireballs flew from Shang's hands towards Sub-Zero. He reacted instantly, dodging the first one and neutralizing the other with an ice ball. He knew he had to move quickly. At a distance, the two of them were evenly matched, but up close, Sub-Zero knew he could quickly gain the advantage.

He began charging toward the sorcerer and as he picked up speed, slipped into a crouch and slammed into Shang Tsung's legs, sending him over his shoulder. In an instant, Shang had his hand out charging up his energy for another fireball which he quickly released. The flame slammed into Sub-Zero's back, knocking him off balance and sending him through a wooden fence.

"I expect more from you Lin Kuei!"

Sub-Zero growled, shaking himself free from the debris, he sent the sorcerer his deadliest glare. "This is only the beginning Shang Tsung."

Jax finally managed to shake himself from the wreckage of the house he was trapped under. "Damn! What hit me?" he muttered as he shakily stood up. He quickly noticed the tarkatan warrior and smirked, "Oh you're about to have a very bad day."

The tarkata growled and began to charge Jax, with his blades drawn. Jax fired an energy wave at the beast which it easily blocked with its blades. Jax used this momentary distraction for a ground pound, causing most of the village to shake and the tarkata along with it.

This didn't keep the tarkata fazed long as it sent as spark blast toward Jax that hit him square in the chest. With a battle cry it leaped into the air, aiming a kick at the major's head. Jax caught its leg on reflex and using the extra strength that his cybernetics afforded him, swung him around through the wood of another one of the huts before tossing him to the ground.

As he advanced on the motionless tarkata, he was suddenly hit hard in the chest, the force of the blow knocking him against another one of the huts. Just as quickly he felt white hot pain from from his chest, wincing he glared at the tarkata that had him pinned, the metal blades piercing his shoulders.

He kicked it in the stomach multiple times before he finally dislodged himself from the blades, grabbing the tarkatan by the throat, he began punching it multiple times in the head. He didn't count out his close contact to the solider having a down side, but as he heard the sound of the blades coming out and felt the drips of blood on his pants as it frantically slashed him in an attempt to get free. He knew he had to think of something quick. He wasn't gonna let that thing go that easily.

He looked around quickly for a solution when he saw a glint of sliver catch his eye. He smirked and punched the tarkatan in the head a few times to stun it. "Kung Lao!" The monk, who had been fighting Baraka, glanced over at his comrade. "Your hat!" That's when he noticed the struggling tarkatan in his grip and caught on. Dodging another one of Baraka's spark blasts, he threw his hat with as much force as he could and smirked as it embedded itself it the monster's back.

Jax dropped the still struggling tarkatan to the ground and pushed the hat through it and stopping its movements once and for all. He stumbled forward slightly, the puncture and slash wounds on his chest still dripping blood. He looked over to where Kung Lao was fighting Baraka and nodded. He had a score to settle with him.

Kung Lao teleported out of the way of a blade lunge, appearing behind him and kicking him in the back of the head. Baraka turned on him quickly, a roundhouse kick followed by another spark blast knocking him to the ground. Baraka lunged at him again, intent on impaling him with his blades, but as he approached him the ground began to shake weakly which stunned Baraka.

Using this to his advantage, Kung Lao quickly stood and slashed Baraka in the stomach with his hat before teleporting behind him and slashing him in the back and as he teleported one last time to land the finishing blow he was stopped in his tracks, by blades slashing at his face and chest as he reappeared. It seemed that Baraka recovered more quickly from his attacks than Kung Lao thought and when he reappeared the last time, tried his best to chop him up.

Kung Lao quickly began to spin, creating a whirlwind which threw the tarkatan back and through a fence. He waited for the second he saw Baraka move and threw his hat and began to chase after it. Baraka easily saw the hat coming and dodged it as it landed in a wall behind him only to be knocked onto its blade as Kung Lao kicked kicked him in the head.

The monk wasted no time and kicked Baraka hard in the stomach sending him further onto the hat. He grabbed Baraka and roughly pulled hm off and slammed him to the ground. Kung Lao grabbed his and threw it at the ground, making it spin continuously. It was time to finish this.

He grabbed Baraka's legs and just as he was about to begin cutting there was a loud and fiery explosion from the entrance of the village. Kung Lao froze and Baraka used this as an opportunity to kick him in the stomach. He turned onto his back and launched himself up at Kung Lao using his blades, stabbing him in the arms. Removing one of his blades, Baraka aimed it right above the monk's heart, ready to destroy this Earthrealm trash once and for all.

As he slammed the blade down a purple blast of light caught his eye and as he tried to move away, he realized that Kung Lao had gripped his wrists and was keeping him in place. The blast hit him head on and sent him flying into one of the huts, causing it to collapse on top of him.

Jax ran over to Kung Lao and helped him stand, "Thanks Jax. A few more seconds and I would have been done. Come on we need to finish him." He tried to go over to where Baraka lay under the debris but was stopped by Jax and the horrible pain in his chest where he was impaled.

"Let him go for now. You saw that blast right? We have to get to Sub-Zero! He may need our help."

Jax and Kung Lao raced back over to the entrance of the village where Sub-Zero was kneeling against a tree with Shang Tsung nowhere to be found. His scar had been reopened and was bleeding freely down his face, parts of his armor had been burned away and left charred flesh on his arms and legs. One of his arms hung limply at his side while the other covered a bleeding spot on his stomach.

Kung Lao and Jax knelt in front of Sub-Zero and gently tried to help him up. "Will you be all right?" the monk asked.

Sub-Zero winced as he nodded slowly, "Yeah. I'll be fine. Shang Tsung missed anything major."

Kung Lao nodded in relief, "And where is he?"

Sub-Zero shook his head, "I don't know. I had him pinned and was about to finish him off, but he got free and opened a portal."

"Come on." Jax said as he helped King Lao get Sub-Zero up. "We need to get back. If either of the deadly alliance finds us we'll be easy targets."

"Yeah." Sub-Zero said softly, glancing back at the village and smirking. "And we really don't want that to happen."

Sonya tried her best to stay silent as Kahn went over his planned battle strategies for his next planned conquest. It was as she feared. He was beginning to focus on Edenia and Sonya wanted no part in making its takeover any easier. She gave vague information and basic tips on how to train his forces, but nothing too specific. She saved those tips for when she was sure he wasn't paying attention to her, instead enjoying listening to the sound of himself talk. She could could tell Kahn was beginning to get irritated with her. He was looking for more advanced knowledge, not things that even a first time soldier would know.

Sonya was about to slip in one of her more useful pieces of military knowledge when the windows to Kahn's study suddenly burst open. She quickly surveyed the room, every nerve on guard. She new from the look on Kahn's face that someone was there, and since they were at least three stories up, it wasn't any normal person.

After a few moments of silence Kahn turned to her with a glare. "Leave me!" Sonya nodded and quickly stepped out, but as she closed the door behind her, she glanced back and saw someone she had not expected. _What was Reptile doing here?_ A few seconds ago she would have done anything in her haste to not be around Kahn, but this is what she had been waiting for all day and wasn't going to waste the chance. She looked down the corridor._ There's no shadow priests._ She thought. _I may be able to get a little information before he realizes I'm still here._

"How did it go?" Shao Kahn asked. "Are those strange guests of my brother food for the trees in the living forest?"

Reptile shook his head, "No. Massster. I tracked them like you asssked but there wass another already there."

"What do you mean there was another there?!"

"There wasss a sorcerer of some kind after them asss well. He wasss covered in strange markings and they ssseemed to know him. After a little assistance from me, he sseemed to be holding his own against them, ssso I came to report to you."

Kahn nodded. "Good Reptile. If they did make it back alive I want you to continue to keep an eye on them. Now I just need to hear from Baraka. Hopefully his mission wasn't a failure like yours. Nothing is going to keep me from taking my rightful spot as emperor of Outworld!" he bellowed.

"What about that ssstrange sorcerer?"

Kahn remained silent as he thought about a solution. "I'll look into that. From what you described, he does not seem to be from Outworld and he was fighting those Earthrealm warriors. If you find him again, bring him to me. Once I know his motives for going after Raiden

Sonya decided she had heard enough. She had to tell Liu. If Kahn was on to them, they had much bigger problems to worry about than the deadly alliance. She didn't know what else he had up his sleeve, but she knew they had to keep their guard up.

Liu blocked every punch that Raiden attempted to land, looking for a break in his defenses. He found one, and using his quick reflexes, caught one of Raiden's wrists and threw him over his shoulder. Raiden landed gracefully on his feet and swept Liu's feet from beneath him, sending the monk sprawling to the ground. Twisting his wrist and keeping one foot on Liu's chest, Raiden smiled down at his opponent.

"So how was that?" he asked smugly.

Liu smirked and locked his legs around the one of Raiden's that wasn't on his chest. He sent the silver haired man face first to the ground before untwisting his wrist and twisting Raiden's around his back.

"I'll have to say not bad." Liu chuckled as he moved off of Raiden's back and helped him up. "Your moves are very impressive."

"Thank you. I don't have much else to do besides train. I don't trust my father or brother and I'm trying to be prepared for anything they might try during this trial."

The walk back to the castle was silent, but comfortable. It seemed that the connection between them in the future still existed in the past, except the roles were reversed this time.

"Hey Raiden? Why did you ask me for your help?" Liu asked softly.

Raiden stopped and turned to his companion, his eyes facing the ground and just a tint of a blush on his cheeks. "...When you and your friends arrived here I could see something in you, The heart of a warrior, a champion. Even when you helped me against those two sorcerers, even though you didn't do any fighting I could sense how strong you were and I knew that kind of spirit and strength would possibly be what I need to defeat Kahn."

Liu didn't know what was making him act like this, but when he noticed the slightly nervous look and small flush on Raiden's cheeks he had to move closer. There was something about this Raiden that had him magnetized. He knew he shouldn't be feeling this way towards his future mentor, but something was drawing him to Raiden and he wanted to know exactly what it was.

"Is that the only reason why you asked?"

Apparently something in Raiden had grown bolder too as he moved closer to Liu until there was barely an inch of space between them. He looked down at Liu, locking their eyes together, "No. There was another reason." he whispered.

Liu was frozen as Raiden leaned down and pressed his lips to Liu's. Part of his mind began to scream at him, _You know this isn't right! This is Raiden!_ Even with that thought screaming through his head, he couldn't stop himself from kissing back until his senses caught up with him again.

He pushed Raiden away forcefully, more forcefully than he intended as the other man stumbled back. "No Raiden! We can't do this." He glanced back at Raiden and instantly wished he hadn't. The hurt was evident on his features as was confusion. Liu couldn't explain all the reasons they couldn't do this without screwing up the future in some way, but he couldn't just leave things like this.

"Raiden...I..."

"Don't." He said coldly. " It was a bad idea on my part and I apologize that it happened. Now let's just pretend that it didn't."

Even in the future, Liu had never heard Raiden sound this angry or hurt. "Just let me explain. There are some things that-"

"I said don't!" Raiden bellowed as he turned from Liu and kept walking to the castle. "I already said it didn't happen."

As he came closer to the doors the vision in front of him caused him to freeze in his tracks. "Liu! Come quickly!"

Liu jogged up quickly to his side and his eyes widened in horror as he saw the scene in front of him. Collapsed in front of the doors to the castle were Kitana, Kenshi and Jade. He knew right then and there that their mission had just become much more complicated, and when he he looked over at Raiden who had ran over to them and began trying to help Kenshi, he knew it had just become that much more confusing as well.


	6. Chapter 6

Liu couldn't help but freeze in shock as Raiden tended to the others. They all looked horrible and it was amazing that they were even still alive. As he ran over to help them, he recognized the skull shaped burn on Jade's back and knew instantly what happened. He knew they would run into the deadly alliance sooner or later but he didn't think it would be this bad.

Raiden's voice shook him out of his stupor and he looked up to see the other man racing back toward the castle. "I'm going to get some medical supplies! They've all lost a lot of blood and they need to stay awake. Talk to them. Maybe they can tell you what happened."

Liu nodded and gently eased Kitana into a sitting position. "Kitana...can you hear me?"

"Liu..." She whispered softly. "Are the others alright?"

Liu looked over to where Jade sat weakly against the steel fence and where Kenshi still lie unconscious. "They've seen better days. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Reptile..." She whispered, her breath becoming ragged as she fought to stay conscious. "We were attacked by Reptile and Quan Chi." She noted Liu's widened eyes and look of concern. "Don't worry. I've seen much worse then this. I'll be fine."

"I have the supplies." Raiden said calmly as he knelt next to Kitana. "Hopefully this should help." He gave Liu half of the supplies before going to see to Kenshi. As he began to clean and bandage the swordsman's wounds, he noticed the familiar pattern of burns on his body. "Those burns..."

Jade's head weakly perked up at the sound of his voice, and she asked curiously, "Do you recognize them?"

Raiden hesitated. He wasn't sure he should reveal the information about his brother's soldier to the others without knowing more himself. It was possible that he could be mistaken. "I thought I did. I'm not sure anymore." He needed to know why his brother would send one of his best assassins after them.

Jade quirked her brow, but silently went back to bandaging her wounds. "Liu have you heard from the others at all?"

The monk shook his head. "Not at all. You were the first to make it back, and I can only hope that they didn't run into similar trouble."

"Me either. I'm sure Shang Tsung could give them a run for their money, but if he had help too..."

"I know, but we have to trust they'll be fine. There should be very few of the deadly alliance's allies still around Outworld at this time."

"That's...what you said before. I guess Reptile didn't...get the message in time."

Everyone's heads snapped over to the battered form of the swordsman. Kenshi still lie prone on the ground, his chest heaving hard as he took shaky breaths.

"Kenshi! It's good to know you're alive. You had Kitana and I worried for a while." Jade said in relief.

A ragged breathing sound which was supposedly a chuckle came from Kenshi. "I'm fine. I've suffered worse than this. Where are the others?"

"Hopefully on their way back. It's getting really late. I know they can take care of themselves, but still this is Outworld and I don't think we'd be welcome here, now or ever."

"Come on. Let's get inside." Jade said as she stood shakily. "We can talk more there."

Raiden gently eased Kenshi to his feet while Liu did the same for Kitana. They made their way slowly into the castle under the watchful eye of the guards. As they reached the library they were startled by a shocked cry from Sonya, who had been running toward them.

"By the Elder Gods! What happened to you?" she cried as she ran over to help Raiden with Kenshi.

"Quan Chi and Reptile got the better of us in the living forest." Jade said as she slid to the floor.

Sonya helped Raiden lay Kenshi out before she replied, her eyes turning grave as she spoke. "I know. Reptile was sent to the living forest after you guys and Baraka was sent after the others."

Raiden froze for a moment before going back to tending to Kenshi. Baraka was part of the tarkatan horde Kahn commanded in his army. If he remembered correctly, Baraka was the most bloodthirsty of them all. He needed to find out what was going on. First the acid burns on Kenshi and now this? Kahn was up to something and it was time he figured out what it was.

"This isn't making sense. What possible reason could both Reptile and Baraka be here?!" Liu shouted.

Sonya nodded, glancing at Raiden in the corner of her eye. "I know but we can't talk about it right now. We need to find the others and possibly come up with a new plan. Especially if we have new enemies to deal with."

Raiden shook his head and abruptly stood and began heading out the door. "I need to go. I have some...things I need to discus with father." He glanced back at the group. "I'll see all of you later then."

After the door closed, Sonya breathed a sigh of relief. "It's a good thing he's gone. It made it kind of hard to tell you what I learned from following Kahn all day."

"Well what did you learn?" Kitana asked.

"Baraka and Reptile are apparently Kahn's subordinates in this Outworld as well. He sent them after you, most likely on Shinnok's orders. Apparently we're more threatening to him then he led us to believe. He's even ordered them to kill Quan Chi and Shang Tsung if they run across them again."

"Explains why Reptile disappeared in the middle of the fight. He came back here to report to Kahn." Kenshi said.

"I think we may also have another problem." Jade began slowly. "It seems that Raiden may know more than we think."

A flash of anger surged through Liu's veins at her words. "What makes you say that?!"

"Forgive me, I do not mean to say that he sides with them. It's just...well earlier I could tell he recognized the burns from Reptile's acid and did you see the way he left after we mentioned them again? He knows more than he's letting on and I don't want that to be a problem for us."

"You should go talk to him Liu." Kitana said softly. "You're the one closest to him, in our time and here. He probably wouldn't be as suspicious if you were the one to mention it to him."

Liu sighed, turning away from the others and focusing on looking out of the windows and back to the courtyard, remembering on what had happened a few hours before. "I don't think I should be the one to do that. I'm not exactly Raiden's favorite person right now. I could blow our entire cover if I was to mention anything to him."

"Still, it would help to know why Kahn is suddenly so suspicious of us. If anything he should have went after Liu since he was the one helping Raiden with his training." Jade said.

"Who knows with Kahn? He maybe sees us as threats in his fight with Raiden." Sonya said. "That's definitely the impression I got. There's not much else he can do to us while we're all together. We just need to keep our guard up and be careful, especially since half of us are injured and the other half still missing."

"Alright Alright, I'll go talk to him." Liu said as he stood. _I just hope he still isn't angry with me._

Raiden angrily marched along to his brother's chambers. He was going to find out why he had sent those assassins after the others. He knew father's rules, and this is one he thought not even Kahn would dare to break. He looked around suspiciously, the shadow priests were long gone which was unusual in itself. Even if he didn't need them, father usually forced him to keep them around.

He could hear voices coming from his brother's trophy room and forced the door open, startling Baraka and earning him a raised eyebrow from Kahn.

"Does father know you sent Reptile after those warriors today?" he growled.

Kahn chuckled, smirking at his foolish sibling. "Whether he did or not is none of your concern brother. You should be more focused on our fight. Especially if you need to get help from that monk you've taken a liking to. I wonder how father would react to that?"

Raiden's nails bit into his palms as he tried to keep his cool and not attack Kahn. "I don't need in help in defeating you!" He fought to keep his anger under control. "You know that no harm is supposed to come to anyone during the three trials. Those rules are just as sacred as the ones for the great tournament. I wonder what father would think if he knew you broke them?"

"Well it's not my problem if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time." His eyes narrowed and his voice lost the mocking tone and quickly became deadly. "You should go little brother, or the same things could easily happen to you and something tells me I don't think father would have to much of a problem with that."

With a feral growl, Raiden turned on his heel and began to leave. "Fine! But no more harm had better come to them between now and our match. You're not the only one capable of breaking the rules here."

Kahn looked on in curiosity as his brother sent one last glare in his direction. For a split second it seemed lightning had flashed through his eyes. He ignored it and the slamming of his door and turned back to Baraka. "Complete your report."

"Are you sure that was wise? Not informing him that one of them isn't as they seem?"

The tarkatan received a boot to the stomach for his words. "Silence! You should know better than to question me! Especially when something like this can work in our favor. If the traitor gets to Raiden, it saves me the time and trouble I would have to go through to kill him. As much as I would love to strangle my brother with my bare hands, if someone else is willing to do it for me, why fight it?"

"Should I still send out that group of tarkata to keep the others from making it back? They are already wounded. I managed to make sure of that before I returned here."

An evil smirk began grow on Kahn's face. "Go ahead, and this time, make sure none of them live."

As Raiden made his way back to the library, he found himself facing the one person he truly did not want to see. The monk that Kahn had so eloquently described as the "one he had taken a liking to". He really didn't want to deal with that right then.

"What do you want Liu?"

Glancing behind him and seeing one of the guards coming, Liu grabbed Raiden's arm dragged them back to their room, only to get a punch in the jaw as soon as they were out of the guard's sight.

"What was the meaning of that?!"

Liu glared at him as he wiped the blood from his lip, "There was a guard coming and I wanted to talk to you in private."

"If this is about what happened earlier-"

"It's not! Listen to me already! I know you know something about Baraka and Reptile and it's important that I find out what it is. My friends are possibly still in danger and you seem to know much more then you're letting on."

His eyes narrowed at the monk and he pushed passed him and sat on the bed. "I don't know anymore than you do." Raiden said simply.

Liu couldn't let himself get angry. He knew with the way he had rejected him earlier, he had lost some of his trust. If he wanted Raiden's help in finding the others, he had to make sure he didn't lose anymore.

"Raiden listen to me! I know you're angry, but I don't believe you would stoop to something as petty as this to get revenge. Especially when you know there are lives on the line, so please don't lie to me."

The instant Raiden locked eyes with him he knew he had made another mistake with his words. "I wasn't lying!" He whispered harshly, weary of the guards outside. "Reptile is one of my brother's assassin's and Baraka is just another one of his soldiers. When the others said who had attacked them, I went to Kahn myself. I had to know if this was something he personally ordered."

Liu couldn't help the look of shock that crossed his face. "What?! Why?" Liu knew Kahn's temper. If he had the chance, Liu knew that Kahn wouldn't hesitate in ridding himself of Raiden. Even though Raiden's strength was great for a human, he didn't know what powers Kahn still had during this time. Which was why he was shocked Raiden would confront him alone.

Raiden sighed before continuing. "You see, to force him to focus only on the three trials, father made a rule that no harm was to come to anyone in Outworld during this time. In turn, this forced him to freeze his conquests for the time being. That's why that wasn't supposed to happen. My brother's forces aren't supposed to be active right now."

Liu could still sense Raiden was holding back, "but..."

"Apparently my brother and father didn't trust you from the beginning and anyone they don't trust, they kill. I'm not sure why they acted so quickly. There's usually much planning involved before they launch any kind of attack, but if Kahn is after you, he won't quit until your dead."

A sudden thought struck Liu. "I need to go find the others. If Kahn still wants us out of the way, then the others are still in danger."

He charged out of the room with Raiden on his tail. "You guys!" He shouted as he reentered the library. "I'm going to go find the others. The deadly alliance may be out of our way for right now, but Kahn may have sent an extermination squad after the others if Baraka failed him."

"Baraka was with my brother when I went and spoke with him and Kahn didn't look too pleased. Your friends are most likely still alive, but for how long I cannot say."

"But you can't go alone, Liu." Sonya said. "I'll go with you. This is still unfamiliar territory to us and we don't need something to happen to you and you're alone out there."

Liu shook his head vehemently. "No, you need to stay here. One of us needs to be at full health to fight if necessary and the rest of you are too injured. Going back out to search in your conditions would make you easy prey. I'll just have to go alone."

"No you won't." Raiden said from behind him. "Sonya is right. Outworld isn't familiar to you and you will be lost trying to find your friends. Which make you easy prey for whoever my brother sends and what's already out there. You need me."

Kitana sat up weakly and attempted to grab her fans, "It's not a good idea for you to go. Those two sorcerers are still after you and we can't afford to place you in anymore danger. You need to trust us on this."

"Do you honestly think I care about that?!" He shouted as he grabbed his staff. "All of you helped save my life before. I think I at least owe you enough to do this."

"He's right." Liu said calmly. "If we want to find the others and get them back quickly, we need someone who knows Outworld well and Raiden is the only chance we have."

"Are you sure about this Liu?" Kitana asked worriedly.

"It'll be fine. I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to him, and I don't plan on breaking that promise. Besides when we find the others, I'll have help in guarding him and hopefully the deadly alliance is as hurt as we are."

Raiden walked over to them armed with his staff, a small map, and a bag of medical supplies in his hands. "We'll be able to find them quicker with this. If my brother has sent an extermination squad after them we need to hurry. They have a head start on us and we don't know how badly your friends have been injured."

"Good luck you two and be careful. We'll try to stay on guard and watch out for the others in case they make it back themselves." Jade said.

Liu nodded and followed Raiden out of the gates. They only had one more day left before the fight and between the deadly alliance and Shao Kahn, Liu wasn't sure how this was going to turn out. As he glanced over at Raiden who was absorbed in reading the map, he only knew one thing for certain.

He couldn't let anything happen to the silver haired man. That was the one promise he refused to break.


	7. Chapter 7

The trek through most of the villages had lengthened their search well into the night and Liu could see the sky changing colors as the sun rose. The three missing Earthrealm fighters had apparently traveled well into Outworld, as Raiden and Liu were passing through the last of the moaning trees of the living forest.

"This is isn't good." Liu said as he took in their surroundings. "I was hoping they could have made it back at least this far, but if they haven't, they may be more injured then I thought."

"Don't worry." Raiden said calmly. "There's only a few villages this far out into Outworld. We'll find them in one of them. Besides, tarkata can't hunt well at night, so hopefully that little head start they had on us has been shortened."

Liu turned back to look at the other man, but found him staring at the map, doing everything he could to avoid his gaze. Liu sighed, apparently he wasn't going to be forgiven as easily as he would have hoped.

"Thanks." Liu mumbled in reply. "You're right. We'll find them soon enough." They continued their walk in silence, with only the sound of their footsteps along the ground. Liu hated the silence. When they first met and during their sparring that day, he could see signs of their future relationship. The camaraderie they shared and the beginnings of the trust between them, and one moment possibly ruined everything.

He couldn't deny that he felt something for this human version of his mentor, especially after that kiss. His Raiden seemed so untouchable in the future. This Raiden was so much different. He still had that calm and collected air around him and that serious personality, but there was something else, something that put him in Liu's reach.

That still didn't mean anything. Anything he possibly wanted from this Raiden could alter the future in infinite ways and he couldn't risk it. There were lives at stake if everything in this time didn't go perfectly, and he couldn't risk the future of the realms no matter what he wanted.

He glanced over at Raiden, who was once again focusing fully on the map in his hands. When he finally turned his gaze on to him, his eyes held none of the previous warmth as they did before; now they were hardened much like the Raiden of the future, and it hurt to know that he was the one to cause it.

"We should head that way, toward those caves. They may have taken shelter there." he heard Raiden mutter.

As he followed Raiden toward the caves he sighed, he really hoped they found the others soon, or a least some tarkata. He didn't know how much longer he could deal with the tension between them.

There was only so much running the three of them could do in the condition they were in. Jax and Kung Lao ran as fast as they could while helping Sub-Zero, but the distance they had put between themselves and the tarkatan extermination squad wouldn't last long, especially since their wounds were still open. They all knew tarkata could smell blood from miles away.

"Guys, I may have an idea." Jax said as he stopped running. He took a deep breath and groaned when he stretched, forcing the wounds on his chest to reopen. He rubbed his hand over the blood and began to put on the trees around them. "If they smell blood from different places they'll have to split up and we may be able to handle them that way."

Kung Lao nodded and began doing the same. He looked over to the unconscious form of the Lin Kuei, "What about Sub Zero?"

"He should be fine. Most of his injuries are burns. Hopefully they'll be paying more attention to our scent than his."

Their task done, they picked up Sub-Zero and took off again. They needed to find some shelter, somewhere for them to regroup for just a little while. "Jax! Look up ahead." Jax looked over to where Kung Lao had pointed to and grinned. He could see some caves in the distance and knew that would be an excellent place to stop.

"Come on!" He shouted as they ran toward the caves. "We should be safe here for a little while. At least until the others can find us."

Liu knew they needed to take cover. He didn't know how the tarkata had managed to find them, but once they did, there was no way for them to lose them.

"Raiden! We've reached the living forest again! We can hide in the trees and wait for them to come to us!"

Raiden nodded and they split off. Each of them going to a different part of the wooded area. Raiden easily leaped onto one of branches and made sure he was completely covered by leaves and out of reach of any stray branches. Liu found a group of trees and hid between them, completely hidden by the trunks and the mangled faces in the trees. Hopefully this would confuse the tarkata long enough for them to launch an attack.

Baraka led the group of tarkata into the forest, inhaling the the air deeply he began to growl loudly. "There's blood in the air! They're near by! Spread out and make sure that when you find them, you leave nothing but scraps!"

Raiden's eyes widened when Baraka mentioned the blood. In their haste to find cover from the tarkata he didn't notice it, and he had no doubt that Liu didn't as well. Raiden looked around frantically and that's when he caught splotches of it on the different trees. It wasn't enough to be fatal, which relieved Raiden slightly. "They may be near by. We have to find them." he muttered to himself.

As soon as the tarkata closest to him turned its back, he attacked, leaping from the tree he was perched in with a flying kick so hard, he could hear the cracking of the tarkata's skull as he landed. Baraka and the rest of his squad instantly turned his attention on Raiden and began advancing toward him. This gave Liu the chance he needed and he fired a few fireballs into the back of one of the other tarkata, sending it into the mouth of one of the trees.

Baraka snapped his head toward where Liu had come from the trees and released a feral growl. "GET THEM!" He shouted as he charged toward the monk as and as the rest of his squad charged toward Raiden.

Kung Lao glanced up when he heard the shout. "Jax we may have company."

Jax and Kung Lao stood and walked to the mouth of the cave and and crept out a few feet. They could see partly into the forest and could hear the faintly hear the sounds of fighting. They could see the spark blasts from the blades of the tarkata and knew that the extermination squad had caught up to them.

"The others must have been looking for us and they came after them. We need to go help them." Jax started down to the forest but was instantly stopped by Kung Lao. "Man what are you doing?! They need help!"

"I know that." He sighed and glanced back at the cave. "You go. I'll stay behind with Sub-Zero. My arms are basically useless right now, so you'll be more help to him than I would."

Jax nodded and clapped Kung Lao on the shoulder before headed down to the forest. He moved his arms slowly, wincing when he saw a little trickle of blood from his shoulders. As he reached the forest he decided to shake things up a bit, and while he was still out of sight, slammed down on the ground with as much force as he manage. Smirking triumphantly he watched the ground shake and and one of the smaller trees break free of its roots and completely impale one of the tarkata.

When the ground wave hit, Raiden quickly brandished his staff to stay upright as the three remaining tarkata surrounded him. "Well great. My brother always did like putting me on the spot." he muttered to himself. He easily dodged the slashes of the first tarkata and managed to dodge a kick from another before he was kicked in the back by the last one.

Raiden stumbled forward and dug his staff into the ground before kicking the closest tarkata in the head and grabbing his staff and slamming it down on the skull of the mutant, then using lightning quick speed he didn't know he possessed, twirled his staff again slamming it into the side of the tarkata, its momentum knocking it off balance and sending it head first into another tree.

Raiden turned away as he heard the sounds of the tarkata being torn apart and dropped back into his fighting stance. The two remaining tarkata began circling around him, each growling and their blades released as the two charged toward him. Raiden kept his eyes flashing between the two of them, deciding on how he was going to attack when he saw the tarkata in front of him get slammed into the ground and began to get pummeled by Jax.

Jax knew he'd destroyed the one that had attacked him back at the village but destroying this one would just improve his mood oh so much. The tarkata kept trying to stab at him with its blades, and Jax had finally had enough and grabbed it's blade and before it could be extended back punched through it with his fists. The tarkata howled in pain and anger and attempted to throw him off. Jax grabbed it by the throat and looked at the blade in his hand, looked back at the tarkata, then back at the blade before shrugging and stabbing it into it's head, finally causing it to cease struggling.

Raiden chuckled and shook his head at the other fighter. From the enthusiasm he was showing he must have had a real score to settle with the tarkata and as he was knocked harshly to the ground by the one he'd forgotten about, he decided that he did too. Raiden struggled under the tarkata, barely dodging it's blade every time it impaled the ground looking for his head as a target. He had lost his staff when he was tackled and looked back at it, growling at the fact it was out of his reach.

"Looks like I have to do this the old fashioned way."

As it slammed it's blade down into the ground again, Raiden dodged it once more and headbutted it. He kneed it in the stomach multiple times in an attempt throw it off and was grateful when Jax realized what as going on and ripped the tarkata off and Raiden eagerly jumped up and grabbed his staff.

"He's mine! Send him over here Jax!"

Jax nodded and shoved the tarkata forward and it ran right into the tip of Raiden's staff and impaled itself on it. Raiden quickly pulled it out before slamming the tarkata in the head, before finally slamming it down one more time on its back, forcing it to the ground.

Raiden panted as he rested on his staff and began searching the forest for Liu. "Thank you."

"It's no problem." Jax replied. "Where's Liu?" He asked as he looked for the monk.

"He was fighting Baraka when I last saw him." He looked around the forest again, his eyes widening in horror when he caught sight of the monk. "LIU!"

Liu had been ensnared in the branches of one of the more angry trees in the Living Forest and was struggling to get his arms free. Baraka's twisted tarkatan mouth widened in what Liu thought was a grin as he released his blades once more. He began to rub his blades together, sharpening them. He charged toward the captured monk and began to spin, eager to slice his opponent in his tracks.

Liu quickly tried to figure out a plan to keep himself from being chopped. He looked behind him and smirked, luckily he wasn't facing the mouth of the tree. When Baraka became close enough, Liu ran up the tree and balanced on the branches as he watched Baraka's blades embed in the tree. He dropped back down behind him, thankful his blades had embedded themselves in the tree instead of in him. He heard the shouting of his name and saw Raiden rushing toward him with Jax following close behind.

Raiden began roughly pulling at one branch while Jax began working on another, but they had to hurry, Baraka was getting his second wind and was eagerly pulling his blades free

from the tree. No sooner had Liu been pulled free and pushed out of the way did Baraka break loose and strike the target closest to him with his blades...which was Raiden.

Raiden clutched his chest in pain and staggered back towards Jax and in that instant Liu saw red. He gathered up his energy and blasted Baraka with a volley of fireballs. Baraka managed to dodge most of them, but wasn't prepared for the dragon charged bicycle kick that knocked him unconscious and sent him into the vicious branches of another tree.

Liu's eyes burned in fury as he watched Baraka get more tangled up in the branches but when he heard a hiss from behind him, he was instantly next to Raiden checking out his wound. "Are you all right?"

Raiden winced and shrugged him off. "I'll be fine." he said coolly. "Let's just get the others and get out of here before Baraka comes to or gets free."

Liu tried to ignore the confused look Jax sent him as he muttered "Great idea." as he led them to the cave where Kung Lao and Sub-Zero were.

Kung Lao met them in front of the cave with Sub-Zero. "Are all of you all right?"

Raiden nodded. "Nothing some bandages and rest won't fix, but what about you? I saw the blood on the trees. How badly are you hurt?"

"We'll be fine." Jax said. "That was just to throw them off our trail and confuse them. Now we should get back, it's gonna be nightfall by the time we get to the castle."

As they headed out of the forest, a set of red eyes watched them from a distance. Quan Chi couldn't help but smirk as he watched them leave. "So they've taken the bait." he whispered softly to himself. He growled as he looked at the injuries he sustained from the battle the day before. He had managed to get to a village near the forest and recover. Those Earthrealm fools were going to pay for this and killing Raiden would just be an added bonus.

They reached the castle just as night was beginning to fall. Raiden, for once in his life, was relieved when he saw the courtyard finally appear, but something caught his eye. In a window of one of the higher floors, he could see the fury filled gaze of his brother staring right at him, and something changed for Raiden in that moment. Usually he would have ignored the glare and the slight shiver of fear it sent through him, but this time he stared right back at Kahn and smirked.

_Sorry brother, but you won't get rid of me that easily._

Liu noticed the smirk on his face and stared at him quizzically. "Is everything all right?" he asked with a bit of hesitation.

Raiden nodded and looked straight ahead to the castle doors once more. "Everything's just fine."

They made it back to the library where the others were and set Sub-Zero against a bookcase. Jax and Kung Lao eased into some chairs as Sonya began to look over their wounds. "What happened to you guys?"

Jax snorted. "Where do you want me to start? The fight with the tarkata at the village or being chased by another extermination squad for hours on end?"

"Relax Jax," Raiden said as he walked in and began to bandage his chest, "You survived and you succeeded in what you had to do." Raiden looked up when he noticed the sudden silence in the room. Everyone's eyes were focused on large bloody gash trailing across his chest. "Is there a reason why all of you are staring at me?"

"I'm sorry, it's just the wound on your chest. It looks very bad. Are you all right?" Kitana asked.

"I just had a run in with Baraka's blades. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

Kitana nodded, "All right. If you say so." She looked around at the others before she shakily stood. "We need to get some rest." She glanced over at Liu, "We'll regroup tomorrow morning before the fight. We need to to talk."

Everyone nodded and filed out of the library. After making sure everyone made it back to their rooms and had their wounds taken care of, Liu and Raiden headed back to their room. Between the final trial tomorrow and the tension between them today, they needed to clear up some things between them. If Raiden was to beat Kahn tomorrow, he needed his mind focused and clear.

As the door shut behind them, Liu sighed and leaned back against it as Raiden sat on the edge of the bed, Raiden wasn't outright ignoring him like before, but there was still a heavy amount of tension between them and it needed to go.

"Raiden, can we please talk? It's obvious that we still have some things that need to be cleared out between us and I thought we should get it out the way."

Raiden still refused to look at him. "Go ahead."

"I thought we had made some progress back to how we were before. I mean you risked your life out there for me. Baraka could have-"

Raiden instantly cut him off. "I trusted you and I do consider you a friend. After what you've done for me I couldn't let you die out there, no matter how I felt at the time. Besides I owed you, you and your friends saved my life. I thought I'd repay the favor."

"Stop interrupting me!" Liu shouted angrily. Raiden looked up at him in surprise and remained quiet. He saw the fire in Liu's eyes. He could tell he was frustrated and upset, but for a split second there was something else there, something that intrigued Raiden. Liu walked over to the bed and sat down beside him, "When you kissed me, I know I could have reacted better and then after what happened today..."

He gently held Raiden's cheek in his hand and wasn't surprised when Raiden continued to remain still. "I have to do this. I could be screwing up everything for everyone with what I'm about to do but...I'm not gonna ignore this any longer." He leaned into Raiden and slowly pressed their lips together. The kiss was soft and gentle with Raiden grasping Liu's shoulders to stay upright. Raiden let out a soft sigh as Liu hesitantly deepened the kiss, nipping at him bottom lip as he gained entrance to his mouth. As they broke apart Liu had a small smile on his face. "I couldn't ignore this any longer."

"Liu...I..."

"Isn't this what you wanted?"

"Yes, but..." Raiden pushed away from Liu before turning his angry brown eyes onto him, again looking much like the God Liu was used to seeing in his time. "I don't want you to do this because you feel obligated; because you hurt me and then I ended up saving your life and you feel you owe me something. This is far from what I wanted if that's the case."

"Is that what you really believe? You may have only known me for a very short time, but do you honestly think I would do this because I felt that I owe you something?" Liu couldn't stop the anger that had begun to seep into his voice again. He didn't know what was pulling him to Raiden like this, but he was sure it was definitely more than feeling the need to repay a debt.

"Well what else could make you change your mind so quickly from before? If it wasn't the fact I saved you today, then what else could it be?" he asked softy.

_How about the fact that after tomorrow I'll never have another chance to do this._

_Or that after tomorrow you'll probably forget I was ever here._

"I don't want to live with regret. Tomorrow, you fight Kahn and I don't want anything to happen without me having done this." Liu spoke instead. "This is something I want and right now damn the consequences."

Raiden smiled at him. A true, honest, genuine smile. "Well it's about time you managed to figure out the right thing to say." he said with a soft chuckle. "Now hopefully I can do this," he said as he leaned in for another kiss. "Without the same results as before."

Liu felt his eyes flutter shut as his kisses with Raiden grew more passionate. He could let his mind rest and just enjoy what was happening. He was relieved that for once, his words hadn't made the situation worse. Though part of him wanted to say that his actions may have just done the same thing.

As the two on the bed became more wrapped up in each other, a set of dark brown eyes watched from the door. A cruel smirk firmly plastered on his face, Shang Tsung backed silently away from the door using every ounce of his marital arts training to assure he went unnoticed. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face as he absorbed the latest development in his mission.

"So the monk and the God huh, well that was unexpected." he muttered to himself. As he reached one of the rooms, he opened it and slid back inside, wincing as the door slammed loud enough to wake the room's other occupant, Kung Lao.

"Sub-Zero what are you doing? You've been unconscious since you fought Shang Tsung. You need to heal up from your wounds."

"I know. Things seemed tense between Liu and Raiden earlier so I went to check on them, to make sure that everything was all right."

"All right, but get some rest. We need everyone at full strength tomorrow. I have no doubt the deadly alliance will try something. It is their last chance after all."

Sub-Zero nodded and went over to the other bed. "I am well aware of that and shall be prepared for tomorrow."

Kung Lao nodded and soon relaxed back into sleep. Shang Tsung breathed a sigh of relief through the mask. That had been close. He couldn't let his little charade be found out just yet. He had a job he needed to complete and from what he had just witnessed, it had just become much more interesting.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I just want to say I'm sorry for such a gap between updates. School got in the way bit and made things really busy. I hope that everyone enjoys this chapter and I'll try to have the next one up quicker! :)

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Liu awoke to the warm weight on his chest with a smile, as he remembered the night before fondly. They hadn't went farther than kissing and a little touching, but for Liu that had been more than enough. His only regret was that he wouldn't be able to do it again in this time or in the future. He looked out the window and saw the sun was beginning to rise and the sky become more purple, and he didn't want to leave. He glanced once more at the man sleeping on his chest and forced himself to move. He knew the others would be waiting for him.

He removed Raiden's arm from his chest and slid out of the bed. He crept out of the room and down to the library. As he entered, he instantly felt the seven gazes on him as when he looked up at them, their faces full of questions.

"Is there something one of you would like to say?"

Kung Lao didn't waste any time, "What happened with Raiden?"

Liu remained stoic. "You mean his injury yesterday? Yes it was my fault and I know that. He shouldn't have been risking his life like he did, especially not so close to the third trial."

Kung Lao just shook his head and glared at him fiercely. "That isn't what I meant."

Realization crossed his face in an instant. They knew. Somehow how they had found out about what happened between him and Raiden, but that was impossible. There wasn't anyone else there and he highly doubted Shao Kahn cared enough about Raiden to spy on him, but who was it?

"Then what do you mean?" he asked instead, still hoping that he was wrong.

This time it was Kitana that spoke up, "We heard that you and Raiden may have become a bit too close during our time and we were worried. Is that why you were angry when we curious about his knowledge of Kahn's forces?"

Liu sighed and took a deep breath in an effort to keep calm before he answered, "I became angry because you were accusing our friend, our mentor of possibly siding with Kahn behind our backs! And to answer your question, nothing has changed between Raiden and I, we're just friends; student and teacher just like in the future."

"Listen Liu," Jade began. "We just want to make sure that you haven't done anything to jeopardize Raiden or us. We have to make sure that the future doesn't change. I know it's hard, but we don't have a choice."

Before Liu could respond, Jax spoke up. "Just tell us man, did you sleep with Raiden?"

The blunt question was instantly rewarded by a punch to the ribs from Sonya and shocked look from Liu. He couldn't help if he looked like his eyes were about to pop out of his skull or if his jaw was about to drop to the floor, but he couldn't believe what they were asking. "No! I did no such thing! I can't believe all of you. Has being here with Kahn warped your minds?"

Just when he felt the others were finally believing him, Sub-Zero spoke, "Can you truly blame us for asking? Especially after what I saw last night," Sub-Zero tried not to look pleased at the look on Liu's face. "because it seemed to me that you both were incredibly close then."

"You were spying on me?"

"Unintentionally of course. I noticed that things were tense between the two of you and wanted to make sure everything was calm. The door to Raiden's room was cracked and I am sure you know what I saw. I felt it maybe a problem for our mission, so I informed the others."

Liu wasn't going to admit to anything that easily. While he did trust Sub-Zero, something seemed off about that story. As injured as he was yesterday, he shouldn't have been able to leave his room, much less be stealthy enough to spy on him from Raiden's room.

"I don't know what you're talking about or what it is you saw, but I do know that nothing has happened that would cause a problem to our mission."

"Do you expect us to believe that?" Kung Lao hissed. "Just how much of our mission did you spill to him?"

This time Liu did react. He charged at Kung Lao, wanting nothing more than to beat the other monk to a pulp for having the nerve to accuse him of such a thing, but before he could reach him, he was pulled back by Kenshi and Jax.

"Damn it Liu! Calm down!" Jax shouted and he struggled to hold onto the fighting monk.

Liu ceased struggling, but his eyes remained alight with fury. "Do you really think I'm that stupid to risk our mission?! Do you think me that weak?! He knows absolutely nothing!"

Kung Lao sneered and walked over to one of the chairs. Jade sighed and looked at the others. "Let's get back to the matter at hand. We have much to discuss before the fight today and arguing about something that may or may not have happened won't help us."

"Fine." Kung Lao said as he sat down. "Let's see if we can't salvage what we came here to do."

Liu was still furious. He continued to clench his fists, still ready for a fight, but in the end, he forced himself to calm down. He could feel Kenshi's and Jax's hands still on his shoulders and ready to pull hi back again if they needed to, but Jade was right. He wasn't helping matters any with his anger. He sat in another one of the chairs and nodded to the others, and that's when Kitana began to speak.

"Well we know we have two threats to worry about: Kahn and the deadly alliance. I know Quan Chi was badly injured when teleported out of our fight." She then turned to Sub-Zero. "And what of Shang Tsung?"

"He definitely shouldn't be at full strength if he does appear here. I made sure of that."

Kitana nodded. "That's good, since all of us are still recovering from our wounds as well, they shouldn't have that much of an advantage over us. Even if they do, we still have two fighters at full strength."

"And what about Kahn?" Kenshi asked.

"He did try to have us killed, so I don't doubt he'll try something today. We'll have to make sure that there are none of his tricks during the fight."

"I don't know if we can do that." Kenshi said thoughtfully.

Liu who had remained silent up until this point, finally spoke, "What do you mean?"

Kenshi sighed, knowing the monk wasn't going to like what he had to say. "I mean any threats against us we can handle. If the deadly alliance comes after us or Raiden, we take care of them. If Reptile or Baraka come after us we do the same, but if anyone under Kahn's control goes after Raiden or if it looks like he may lose the fight, we can't interfere."

"What? We can't do that! He has to defeat Kahn, it's the only thing that will make everything right!"

"No it isn't." Kenshi continued calmly. "We don't know for sure how their fight actually ended. He never told us. That's why this fight is the one thing we can't interfere in. It's the one thing in this time that has to remain the same or we could completely change the future. We have to let it run its course."

Liu didn't know what to say. He didn't want to believe there was a chance that they had done all of this and there was still a chance their friend might die. He couldn't believe that, especially after what had happened between them, but he knew the swordsman was right. "A-Alright. We won't interfere."

"I know this is hard Liu, but it's something that we can't avoid. Even if we knew the outcome there would still be nothing we could do. Interfering in that fight would have the same effect as if we revealed who we truly are to Raiden and Kahn." Kitana said gently.

"It's fine Kitana." Liu said as he stood and walked to the doors. "I understand completely."

s the doors closed behind him, Kung Lao stood and shook his head. "I know he claims nothing has happened between them, but even I can see something isn't right! He's become too attached to this Raiden. What should we do? He's lost sight of our mission. This isn't going to end well."

"He'll be fine." Kitana said softly. "Liu knows why we're here and he'll come through when we need him."

Kung Lao continued to stare at doors where Liu had exited, "I sure hope so."

Raiden awoke early that morning, calmer than one in his place probably should have been if they knew they had to face Shao Kahn later that day. He'd accepted his fate. No matter what outcome came to pass today he would be at peace with it. Even though, he wouldn't mind seeing the look on his brother's face when he lost.

The door to his room suddenly burst open as Liu strode in, and from what he could tell, something had happened to make him very upset. "Liu? What's wrong? Did something happen to one of the others? Are their injures healing alright?"

Liu opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't make the words he so desperately wanted to say come forth. Everything he wanted to tell him would damage the reason they came here and he still refused to let that happen, so instead of answering, Liu leaned in and placed a soft kiss to Raiden's lips. "Everything is fine. I'm just a bit worried about the two sorcerer's that we came here to find and hope they don't decide to interfere in the fight today. That, and I wanted to wish you luck." He said, forcing a small smile to his face.

If Raiden could still see the tension and nervousness in Liu's face he pretended to ignore it as he smirked and said, "I'll need it, but after your help, I think I'll need it less. I highly doubt my brother could handle the great teachings of the shaolin. He understands nothing but brute force, the fact that there are styles that could be used to an advantage in certain situations would go right over his head."

Liu forced a smile to his face, "You do have a point. Besides, these teachings have beat him before and I have no doubt they'll beat him again." His eyes widened in realization as he caught what he just said. Raiden turned to him and stared at him with his eyebrows raised.

"What did you just say?"

"It was nothing. Please ignore me. Besides, don't you think we should be getting to the courtyard? The fight will begin soon."

Raiden sighed, "I know." Raiden then did something that once again shocked Liu. He turned and walked over to the monk before wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace. "I also know you're worried and I don't want you to be. How can I die after just finding you?"

_Oh Raiden, don't do this to me. _Liu smiled and broke the embrace. He grabbed Raiden's staff and tossed it to the other man, "You won't die. I won't allow it. Now let's go. The others are probably waiting for us."

The guards surrounded the courtyard in anticipation of the final trial. The other Earthrealm fighters were there as well. Shinnok and Kahn stood off to the side as Raiden and Liu walked onto platform. Liu clapped him on the shoulder and nodded as he went to join the others. Raiden took a deep breath and stepped on to the platform, tossing his staff back to Liu, he walked to the center and waited for his brother.

Shao Kahn was dressed in his full military attire, His long spiked cape and his skull mask in their rightful positions. He shrugged off his cape and stepped on the platform as well, with a cruel smirk twisted on his features he growled, "Ready to meet the elder Gods brother?"

Raiden returned the smirk just as easily and said smoothly, "Why not? It isn't everyday they come to retrieve the soul of an evil warlord."

Raiden ducked easily as the first blow flew past his head and he dodged the rest of them just as easily. Kahn had always been more strength than speed and with his smaller size, Raiden knew that as long as his brother didn't catch him, fighting hand to hand wouldn't be a problem, but then he was caught.

The blow rocked him back on his heels, stunning him as Kahn moved in for another hit which landed squarely in his stomach. Raiden had to get his head together or this fight would be over before it even got started. He stumbled back and managed to dodge Kahn's next punch that seemed to be gunning for his head. He used this opening to land an uppercut to Kahn's chin, but it didn't even faze him, as he landed a punch so strong to Raiden's chest that it sent him sprawling on his back a few feet away.

"Well this is not going as well I as I would have thought." Kung Lao muttered to the others. "It seems this Kahn is stronger than we thought."

"Give it time Kung Lao. The fight has just begun." Kitana replied and then winced as she saw Raiden take another hard hit from Kahn. "There is still time for him to win."

Raiden winced and held his side slightly as he stood. He had forgotten just how much of a punch his brother packed. He fell back into his stance as he prepared his next move. As Kahn charged toward him, Raiden saw his opening and dived out of the way as reached his position and swept Kahn's feet, landing a kick to his face as he tried to sit up.

"Yeah!" Jax shouted as he punched Kenshi in the shoulder. "That's what I'm talking about!"

Both brothers quickly got back to their feet and before anyone could blink they were at each other again. It seemed that one hit on Kahn had lit a fire in Raiden and while Kahn managed to deal most of the damage, Raiden seemed to be holding his own now.

Kahn was beginning to get angry. Raiden was not supposed to be able to put up this much of a fight. This was taking longer than he had planned. He knew Raiden didn't have what took to be Shinnok's successor, to take what was rightfully his and rule over it with an iron fist. That's why he could not understand where this surge of power in Raiden had come from, but he knew one thing for sure, he would be damned if he wouldn't beat it out of him.

Raiden continued to smoothly dodge Kahn's attacks, even growing bolder and attempting strikes to put Kahn on the defense. This was the moment Kahn was waiting for. He easily slipped passed Raiden's defense and grabbed him by the throat, easily stopping any momentum Raiden might have had. However, his younger brother wasn't as weak-willed as he thought. Raiden's hand swiftly came up and wrapped around his own throat.

Kahn was mildly surprised at his brother's strength as it was actually becoming slightly difficult for him to breathe, so he increased the pressure as well, and just like he thought, both of Raiden's hands began prying at his own. He decided to take pity on his brother and release him, grabbing both of his wrists and twisting them behind his back.

"Are you ready to bow to me brother?" He hissed as he kneed him sharply in the back.

Raiden glared back at him fiercely, "Not on your life!" With a jump, he flipped in Kahn's grip, breaking free of his grasp and giving him a good kick to the head while he was at it.

Sub-Zero watched the fight with an air of calmness around him. _If this keeps up, I may have to break my cover after all. _He glanced around at the other warriors intently watching the fight. _And if I have to reveal myself before Quan Chi gets here there's definitely going to be some problems._

Raiden had managed to turn the tables again, landing a few kicks to Kahn's chest and almost causing him to lose his footing on the platform. Raiden noticed this and sped toward him before leaping into the air, preparing to land a flying kick that would finally land his brother on his back.

What happened next shocked everyone standing around platform, as Raiden was about to land his kick he was suddenly shot backwards by a bright green spear that forced him to land hard on his back, clutching his chest in pain as the spear slowly disappeared from sight.

Kahn smirked at the injured form of his brother as he struggled to stand. "How did you like that brother?" He said mockingly as he formed another light spear and threw it, this one landing on the other side of his chest. "I always told you that learning the dark arts would be useful one day."

The Earthrealm warriors looked on in shock and horror at what was about to happen. They had no idea that his knowledge of black magic was that advanced at this time. It look all of Liu's control to keep from firing a fireball to give Raiden a chance to escape, but he forced himself to remember Kenshi's words. _If it looks like he may lose the fight, we can't interfere._

He balled his fists in anger, his blunt nails slowly cutting into his palms. _I know I can't interfere, but how do they expect me to me to not even try to do something to help him!_

Kahn poised another spear over his head, ready to strike, "I'll see you in the Netherrealm." He slammed the spear down in the platform with every ounce of his strength, sending a shock wave through the ground and causing the stones near the impact site to crack and nearly shatter.

When the dust settled both Shao Kahn and the rest of the fighters were shocked at what had occurred. There was nothing but destruction in the spot that Raiden was in, but the future God himself was perfectly fine, standing behind Kahn as blacks sparks disappeared from his body. While Shinnok and the Earthrealm fighters noticed this immediately, it wasn't until a hard kick to his back that forced Kahn to stumble forward, made him take notice.

"What?!" He roared. "How can this be?!"

Raiden smirked and slowly fell back into his fighting stance. "You aren't the only one with a few tricks up their sleeve."

Kahn roared in anger as he began to swing wildly. Every punch missing Raiden by mere inches as they began to dance around the platform once again.

Sub-Zero was starting to get angry. _This is taking much to long! Raiden should not be that strong! That's it! I can't wait any longer. It is time to end this and complete my mission! _As he began to make the motions to form an iceball, he caught something beginning to glow in the corner of eye and smirked. _Just in time. _His hand motions caught Jax's attention and the other turned to him curiously.

"Sub-Zero what are you doing man? You know we can't interfere."

He smirked beneath his mask. "All of you may have said you wouldn't interfere, but I said no such thing!" He fired an iceball at Jax, freezing his lower body to the ground before making the motions to fire another.

"Guys! We got a bit of a problem over here!" The others turned to where Jax was frozen and Sub-Zero was ready to fire again, this time at Raiden. Liu fired a fireball at the Lin Kuei warrior, but just barely missed from keeping the iceball from firing and froze as he watched it speed toward Raiden.

"Raiden! Look Out!"

Raiden's head snapped to the side to see the ice flying toward him, but Kahn took advantage of his distraction and sent a hard punch to his jaw, sending him sliding across the rocks to the end of the platform. He moved to follow up his attack when he saw a glowing skull flying toward him from one side and a ball of ice from the other and stepped back, allowing them to destroy each other. Growling, he turned to the figure perched on the wall of the courtyard.

"You're the sorcerer that Reptile spoke of." He formed another light spear in his hand and prepared the throw it. "You will pay for interrupting this battle!" He fired the spear and the sorcerer easily dodged it, landing a few feet away from the other fighters.

"Not bad, but the Kahn where we're from is a bit more powerful than you are at the moment, so why don't you stay out of our way."

The others looked over at Sub-Zero's form on the ground when they heard him begin to laugh evilly as he stood, "I can't believe you all fell for it! I should have done this years ago." Sub-Zero's form faded and Shang Tsung's appeared. "We have no quarrel with you emperor, all we want is your brother. I would think you wouldn't have a problem with that. He dies and you get the throne and our mission is completed."

Kahn chuckled evilly as he stepped down from the platform and over to Shang Tsung. "Usually I'd gladly let you do whatever you wanted to my pathetic brother, but today...", he summoned his hammer and to the shock of everyone else in the courtyard, swung it hard, hitting Shang in the chest and causing him to slam into one the castle walls. "You both are going to pay for getting in my way!"


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Well I know I still suck with the updates, but for some reason this was a really hard chapter to write. The story is reaching its end and there should be about one more chapter left of it, which for once I've already started on. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter!

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Everyone froze as they watched Shang Tsung hit the wall of the castle. That was the last action they had expected out of their lifelong enemy. Of course they knew that he didn't do it to help them, but because the two sorcerers were foolish enough to get in Kahn's way of reaching his goals.

"Do you think I need help from lowly sorcerers such yourselves?!" He summoned another spear and prepared to fire, "Prepare yourself!" He fired multiple spears at the shape-shifter, each of the spears being dodged somewhat smoothly as he made his way back over to the platform.

"Look here warlord, all we want is your brother and I never thought I would have to say this, but if we have to go through you to get him," he began making the motions for another fireball, "then that's fine with me!"

The fireball flew straight to Kahn with the warlord not even attempting to move out of the way until the last second when he swung his hammer through the flames and dispersed them with ease. Shang could see the wide smirk under Kahn's mask grow even more, causing Shang to growl evilly.

"Would you like to try that again Sorcerer?"

Shang Tsung knew better than to try the emperor in head first in hand to hand combat. It seemed like even this version of the emperor could match him blow for blow, but sorcery on the other hand, that was something this Kahn didn't have a full grip over just yet.

"I think I would." Shang concentrated on all of the different forms he could take for this battle and smirked as he thought of the perfect one. He released his magic and knew his transformation was completed when he heard the low growling of the emperor, who was now face to face with his mirror image.

"Now let's see if we can't do this right this time."

The clash of the hammers from both of the Kahn's echoed throughout the courtyard. It was a sight the Earthrealm fighters never thought possible. Shang swung his hammer wildly and hit the future emperor in the chest knocking him back across the platform. Kahn roared loudly and powered up another spear, firing it with as much energy he could muster. Shang dodged it easily and fired back with an energy spear of his own. Kahn refused to dodge and held his hand up as a green shield enveloped him. The spear hit the shield, with it slowly disappearing as it was unable to reach its target, however Kahn wasn't prepared for the second spear that soon was flying straight at him. He tried to reinforce his shield, but he couldn't risk over using his energy just yet, he still had his fight with Raiden to finish.

The spear hit him in the chest, cracking his armor and sending him to his knees. He glared as he heard the sorcerer mocking him, with his own body nonetheless! He wasn't going to stand for this! He could feel his anger growing inside him; he stood and began to charge toward his clone, his body picking up speed as he moved until he charged right into Shang, sending him flying off the platform and back into his own form.

Kahn's evil laughter filled the arena as he walked toward the sorcerer, "You will never win!" Shang growled as he jumped up and began forming a fireball, this one much stronger than previous ones. All he needed to do was keep Kahn busy and let Quan Chi handle Raiden. As much as he wanted to kill the thunder God himself, having the emperor on his knees bowing before him sounded like a pretty good plan as well.

Then he felt it, the stinging cold that was always around him whenever he took the form of Sub-Zero, but it was impossible! He had made sure that the Lin-Kuei would have no chance of making back to the castle. Even if he did, he shouldn't have nearly as much power as he did then. He launched the fireball in the direction of the cold just in time, as it undid the damage the Sub-Zero had started. Shang growled at the Lin-Kuei, who shockingly, looked better than he had when they had first fought.

As he focused on Sub-Zero, Kahn took the sorcerer's moment of distraction to charge at him once more. Shang Tsung only realized too late that emperor was too close for him to dodge or even teleport out of the way. He took the hit from Kahn head on, the spikes on his shoulder pads piercing his chest from the force of the blow. As he landed he braced himself and planned out a counter for Kahn's next attack, but it never came. As he looked back over at Sub-Zero, he saw why. It seemed like this fight may work out in his favor as well.

Sub-Zero was angry. No he was beyond angry. He was going to make sure the sorcerer paid for what he did. In a way, he had to thank Shang Tsung. If the sorcerer hadn't teleported him so far into Outworld, he never would have found that village of cryomancers or been able to use their armor, which regenerated his powers much quicker than his own. He was going to exact his revenge and not even Shao Kahn would get in his way.

He saw the future emperor began to charge toward the struggling emperor again and acted quickly; activating his freezing powers and encasing his lower body in a prison of ice so strong that even Shao Kahn would take some time in breaking it. He walked calmly over to Shang Tsung, his arms glowing brightly with his newly enhanced freezing powers.

"Well sorcerer, I bet you didn't plan on seeing me again."

"You're right, but this time I'll have to make sure that I won't!" The sorcerer fired a volley of fireballs at the Lin-Kuei before charging behind him, his fist raised high. Sub-Zero managed the block the fireballs and the punch, only to be hit by another punch to the chest. "Don't think your new powers are still going to be a match for me." Shang hissed.

"I don't need to think about it!" he shouted as he fired an ice beam, "I already know they're more than a match for you!"

Shang Tsung readily responded with a steady stream of fireballs which continued to neutralize the ice. Shang could feel the beam getting weaker as his fireballs managed to get closer and closer to his target. He decided he was through playing around and increased the speed of his blasts. He knew well of the cryomancers, but knew that even with the use of their armor, Sub-Zero's ice powers would never be a match for his control over fire.

Sub-Zero knew exactly what Shang Tsung was thinking, and usually he would be right, but the armor wasn't the only thing they gave him. He increased his powers and slowly began to overwhelm the sorcerer. As he pushed the sorcerer back against the castle wall he allowed himself a grin under his mask. Revenge certainly was enjoyable.

Shang Tsung couldn't believe it. Sub-Zero's powers had actually managed to beat his own. The ice continued back toward him until it had him trapped against the castle as finally made contact, instantly freezing his hands solid. Shang growled as the bitter cold continued to spread up his arms and down his body, he continued to focus his power into his hands to attempt to unfreeze himself, but each time he did his hands became more deeply frozen. He tried to transform, but became furious when he could not. Between the ice encasing his body and the lack of souls he'd consumed lately his powers were beginning to weaken.

"This isn't over Lin-Kuei! You will not win this!" He bellowed as the ice finally encased his head, and rendered him for once, completely silent.

Sub-Zero increased the ice beam until he could no longer see the sorcerer's face before stopping it. He looked down at his chest and tapped on the dragon medallion he had been given by the cryomancers as it sat next to the one he had received in the future. He would have to find some way to thank that village for the power boost. Now that half of the threat was gone, he turned to where Quan Chi stood as he prepared to attack, only to be stopped by Jade. "Wait, let Liu handle this for a bit. If you try to freeze him now, it won't do any good. He's still to strong right now. Just watch closely for an opening and we'll take him out that way."

"I understand." He said calmly as he gazed between the frozen Shang Tsung and the battle unfolding with Quan Chi, "Let's hope they can weaken him quickly enough."

Quan Chi watched the battle from high on the surrounding wall. Shang Tsung could be such an impatient fool. He had been so focused on the fight and looking for an opening against Raiden that he only felt the intense heat at the very last second. He quickly ducked, the fireball scorching the stone wall behind him. He fired back a succession of skull blasts back at the monk that had once again dared to get in his way.

Liu managed to dodge most of the blasts and even managed to fire back a few of his own, but was caught off guard just by the sheer number of them. He thought there were no more left, but all he heard was Raiden's shout of "LIU!" before he found himself tackled and few feet away from where the blast destroyed another part of the platform.

He realized Raiden had teleported them out of the way at the last second, but the fact he had any of his powers at this time confused him, wasn't he supposed to be human right now? He glanced over at the other man kneeling beside him panting harshly. It looked like whatever was giving him his powers was taking a toll on him. "Raiden are you all right? You should regain your strength for Kahn and let me handle this."

Raiden shook his head violently and stood shakily. "I don't think so. I'm fine. It's just the dark arts take a toll on the user if they aren't used to them." He sent a glare at the sorcerer who just smiled mockingly at them, "These guys wanted me so badly, so now they have to deal with what happens when they get me!"

Liu stood beside him and nodded. "Let's do this."

Quan Chi grinned at this turn of events. He slid easily into his fighting stance, eagerly waiting for the first attack. He wasn't surprised that Shang Tsung had failed, he could never see the big picture, but he'll just have to show just how it was he had survived for so long. Part of him was slightly curious about just how much power Raiden had at this time and as he and the monk began toward him, it seemed he was about to find out.

Liu made contact first, with a flying kick that was easy enough for Quan Chi dodge and land a hard punch to the monk's stomach, knocking him to the ground. He winced as he was knocked forward by a kick from Raiden, who had teleported behind him while he was busy with Liu.

Quan Chi kicked his leg back and was pleased with the solid crack and thud he heard as his foot landed hard in Raiden's chest and sent him back into one of the stone courtyard walls. He was met with a strong punch from Liu, which he managed to block and sent a punch of his own against his opponent. They continued to trade blows, and even with Quan Chi in his injured state he was still managing to hold his own against Liu.

The sorcerer looked for an opening in Liu's defenses and smirked as he found it. Quan Chi knew how the monk's parries worked. He would disappear and reappear behind his opponent, and as he set himself up to give him a chance to use it, he quickly spun around and met the punch that was heading toward his chest, only to be completely unguarded against the kick heading toward his head from Raiden.

Liu Kang used this distraction to launch into the air, landing a bicycle kick to Quan Chi. The kick had the unfortunate effect of knocking him within arm's length of Shao Kahn, who was using his hammer to try and free himself from Sub-Zero's ice, Kahn caught him by the neck and slammed his head multiple times in ice and used his hammer to slam him in the chest, sending him flying back to Liu and Raiden.

When Liu closed in to attempt a finishing blow, Quan Chi open a portal beneath him and fell through it. As the two fighters frantically looked around for him, without warning Raiden suddenly fell to the ground. Liu immediately began launching fireballs as he stomped mercilessly on Raiden while he laughed loudly. While he dodged Liu's fireballs he kicked Raiden away, having grown bored with stomping on the other warrior.

He quickly fired a volley of skull blasts at Liu, which he had deflected with ease. Quan Chi smirked. He knew his plan would work. If he got the normally controlled monk to see red, it would be easy to overcome his rage filled and wild movements. He could see Liu's eyes ablaze with anger as he fought with him. Every punch and every kick trying to slowly wear away at his defenses and growing wilder, with sparks of flame appearing, with every failed strike to bring him down.

He waited for the monk to get closer before he cast his spell forcing Liu to give control over his body to him. Quan Chi chuckled darkly as he watched him struggle valiantly against his magic. "Release me sorcerer! Can you not beat me without having to use a spell?"

Quan Chi had the perfect idea of what do with Liu as he turned him to walk toward Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung. He'd let the emperor beat up on the monk for a bit, and then drain every last bit of energy he had to release Shang Tsung before they stole his soul. "I could easily beat you with or without my magic, but doing it this way, will make your end much more enjoyable to me."

Raiden saw what was about to happen was about to rush in before he had an idea. He had one more trick up his sleeve. He was hoping to save this move to use against Kahn, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He glanced over at Sub-Zero, who caught his gaze and nodded. Apparently he had been waiting for this, which worked in Raiden's favor, as that was one less thing he had to worry about.

He tried to keep an eye on Liu's distance from his brother as he focused his energy for the attack. He had one shot at this, if he missed, the last of his energy would have been used for nothing and he couldn't let that happen. His energy at his peak, he charged at Quan Chi and used his energy to propel himself into the sorcerer's back with a shout.

The sorcerer was shocked when he felt the full force of Raiden's body behind him and the shocks he felt from the hands gripping onto his back. The force of the attack caught him off guard and he dropped the spell against Liu, mere feet before he would have reached Kahn. With Raiden's grip on him, he couldn't create a portal without taking him a long with him, but it wouldn't be a problem. This version of Raiden had very little power and he could feel the grip beginning to loosen.

Raiden was running out of energy. The torpedo attack was the last technique he learned and couldn't perform it over great distances, so when he felt the temperature drop around him he knew Sub-Zero was in position and it was time for him to break free. He released Quan Chi's back and used his momentum to back flip onto the ground, but only then did he realize his mistake.

Quan Chi smirked as he prepared to open a portal. With the distance Raiden had released him, he had regained enough control to escape and avoid Sub-Zero's ice blast. He saw the portal began to open as he flew toward it, only to feel searing hot blasts of heat at his back which forced his concentration on the portal to weaken and the portal itself to grow smaller until it disappeared. It was the monk's damned fireballs that were going to send him into the icy prison. He could already feel it getting more difficult to move and he could see the light sheen of ice on his arms become thicker.

He tried to fire some skull blasts into the ice in an attempt to the Lin-Kuei down but none of them reach the target and they, in turn, crashed into him as he traveled through the ice, shattering and beginning to reopen his wounds from the previous battle. The block of ice began to grow larger and larger until it dropped to the ground with a solid thud; even then Sub-Zero continued the beam until it was hard to tell that something was even inside.

Liu went over to Raiden who had continued to kneel on the ground where he had landed and helped him up, "Are you alright?"

Raiden nodded and gently shrugged off Liu's arm as he walked over the platform "Yes, but it's time to finish this. No more interruptions. This has gone on for too long."

The courtyard was calm. The deadly alliance had been encased in ice and the main threat was gone. It was time to get back to the reason that they were there in the first place. Kahn had finally freed himself from Sub-Zero's ice prison and Raiden stepped back onto the destroyed platform. Kahn ripped off the rest of his armor, throwing it to the ground and causing the rock of the platform to crack even more. Raiden slipped back into his fighting stance, shrugging off the remains of his robes to give him more freedom and mobility for the fight.

"No more tricks brother. We finish this fight like mortals, hand to hand, but if you're too much of a coward to face me that way then that's fine by me."

Kahn's laughed as he fell into his stance, "I am far from a coward as you well know, but if you wish to die like the pathetic beings we conqueror, I guess I can lower myself enough to grant you that final wish."

They charged at each other instantly, putting every ounce of energy they had left into every blow. Between their battle from earlier and their fights with the deadly alliance, they knew they had to end this quickly. Raiden still managed to meet Kahn blow for blow, this time even managing to land more of his own blows, as he could easily see that his brother was beginning to lose speed.

Raiden could see the barrage of punches coming from a mile away, and managed to dodge all of them but the last, since for once Kahn had decided to use some strategy in his fighting so instead of blocking a punch, he ended up taking a hard kick to chest which landed him flat on his back and gasping for air.

Raiden quickly rolled out of the way of the huge stomp aimed right for his head and grabbed his staff, using it to sweep Kahn's feet from underneath him. He brought it down hard on his chest, keeping him on the ground for a few extra moments, and swung it around once more, but all it met was rock as Kahn rolled out the way at the last moment.

Kahn quickly got back to his feet, only to stumble back as he was jabbed in the stomach by Raiden's staff. He quickly spun it around and brought it down hard on top of Kahn's head, when that only caused him to stagger, Raiden brought it down again, finally knocking Kahn back to the ground.

Raiden watched as Kahn rolled to his back in an attempt to stand, and fail miserably. He circled around his brother as he waited to find the perfect time to land his finishing blow. When he saw Kahn finally stop attempting to move, he knew it was time to strike. He leaped high into the air; his staff raised high as he brought it down over his brother's motionless form.

Shao Kahn's eyes snapped open at the moment and he brought up his hands and caught the staff right as it made contact, smirking evilly at his brother's shocked face. He used his strength and tossed the staff and Raiden along with it off the platform and skidding along the ground of the courtyard. Kahn charged after him, reaching him just as he stood and rammed into him, sending into a courtyard wall. He grabbed Raiden's staff and then went over to his brother and grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him back to the platform before tossing him into to it and throwing his staff next to him.

Raiden stood weakly and braced his weight on his staff. He tried moving the arm that Kahn had drug him by, but could only barely manage any movement. He watched as Kahn summoned his hammer and started toward him again. He was put on the defensive again as Kahn attempted to land blows with his hammer. At the sound of the first crack he looked down in shock, his staff was beginning to splinter.

He never thought it was possible. It was made from the wood of the trees in the living forest; it was one of the strongest materials throughout the realm. He didn't think that Kahn would have the strength to break it, but his last strike snapped it in two. Now he was left with only half an offense and barely any defense with his useless arm. He dodged every strike he could; knowing that one direct shot from that hammer would end him in a heartbeat.

It was obvious to Kahn that Raiden was at the edge, and all he had to do was push him over. In the state Raiden was in, it was nearly impossible for him to attack. All he could do was defend and evade and hope that he would see and evade. That wasn't going to happen. He watched Raiden stumble after he attempted to block his last hammer strike with his arm, and Kahn would remember the joy he felt when heard the bones in Raiden's arm shatter against the steel of his hammer. Kahn saw his opening and took it, slamming his hammer full force into Raiden's chest and sliding across the ground once again, this time landing in the crater that was created from the force of the blow. The Earthrealm fighters watched with quickly fleeting hope that Raiden would get up again. They saw no motion from their friend anymore as they watched Kahn's deadly smirk as he walked towards Raiden.

"It's time to finish you brother."

Liu didn't want to watch this. Who would want to watch their mentor, their friend, their-" He shook his head and tried to bury that thought. He couldn't stand to watch any of his friends be killed right in front of his eyes. There had to be something they were missing. Raiden and Kahn's fight couldn't end this way! As Liu watched Kahn stalk towards Raiden's nearly unconscious form, his hands burned with the need to burn Kahn to charcoal the closer he got to Raiden, but he knew he could do nothing but stand where he was.

He began to feel strange. He glanced at the medallion Raiden had given to him when it was time to return and his eyes widened. It was beginning to glow and getting brighter by the second. He knew what that meant. Their time here was reaching its end.

"Well then little brother," Kahn said mockingly as he stalked over, hammer ready for the finishing blow. "Bet you didn't think it would end this way. Not after all the help you had from the monk, or having them all here supporting you." He crouched over Raiden, giving the other man one last punch to the jaw, "Aren't you going to beg for your life? I know you want to and it would make my killing you so much sweeter."

Raiden managed to weakly open his eyes and glared at his brother, "Not on your life Kahn! You might as well kill me now, or you'll spend an eternity waiting for me to beg."

Kahn smirked, "Well have it your way brother," He stood to his full height and spun his hammer before raising it over his head for the blow, "I guess the Elder Gods will be coming for your soul first after all!" He put his full strength behind the hammer as he brought down right to the spot where Raiden's head would be.

At that moment a bright crash of lightning appeared in the sky and a beam of white light enveloped the platform along with Kahn and Raiden and the light from the medallion reached its peak, forcing the others shield their eyes. It created a smaller pillar of light that rivaled the one from the sky. When light disappeared and the fighters risked opening their eyes once again, they were met with a sight that shocked them into silence.

Kung Lao was the first to regain his bearings and voiced the same thought that was on everyone's minds, "What are the Elder Gods doing here?!"


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Well I've finally reached the final chapter! For a while I really wasn't sure if I was going to finish this, and I was racking my brain about the ending, but I would like to thank everyone that read this and left those wonderful reviews and I hope that everyone enjoys the ending!

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Everyone stood frozen as they stared at the three new forms in the middle of the platform. A man dressed in red robes, another man dressed in brown robes, and a woman dressed in blue robes. Liu and Kung Lao recognized the forms at once and bowed in respect. These were the human forms of the Elder Gods, or at least the forms they took on in the legends they were taught at the Temple of the Order of Light. They had thought Kahn was only taunting Raiden when he asked if he was ready to meet the Elder Gods, they had no idea that they would actually appear!

"What is the meaning of this?!" Shinnok shouted as he stood from his throne. "You have no purpose here! You have no right-"

"Silence Shinnok!" The God in red bellowed as he stared at the fallen Elder God. "You lost the right to speak in our presence the day you betrayed us." He turned to Kahn, whose hammer he held grasped in his fist, keeping it from hitting Raiden. "And you...if you weren't to be part of a bigger plan I would end your miserable existence right now."

"You dare speak to the future emperor of Outworld that way! You only hold power to those that believe and I am far from being one of those believers!" He bellowed as he attempted to pull his hammer free from the Fire God's fist, only struggle futility as his hammer refused to move, even with his superhuman strength.

The Fire God shook his head in disapproval and fired a blast of energy from the hand holding Kahn's hammer, Kahn froze in his movements, remaining motionless like a statue. "You've raised a very foolish son, Shinnok. It's no surprise to see why the future ends up as it does."

The Goddess in blue helped Raiden to his feet. Raiden was to shocked to say anything and instead kept his eyes trained on the ground, as a sign of respect. He knew what could happen if you disobeyed the wishes of the Elder Gods, their legends were definitely not beyond Outworld's reach. Something was bothering him though, he felt like this had happened to him before. It was then that he realized where these feelings of deja vu had come.

"My dreams...This all happened to me in my dreams!"

The Goddess nodded, "You are correct. Those visions were sent to prepare you for one and the current outcome of your final trial."

"W-What? What outcome do you speak of? I lost the final trial. I should be dead."

"That you should, but we've looked into your soul," she glanced over at Khan before looking back to Raiden, "And your brother's, we decided that you would be of better use to us alive than dead. There is something special about you Raiden. There is a goodness, an air of wisdom that surrounds you that could prove useful in the coming times."

"I still don't understand, so do you mean to say that if I had beaten Kahn, you would have appeared to him instead?

"Us? Appear willingly to do something for Shao Khan? Never!" The Water Goddess said firmly, "If You were the one to win the final trial, you would have shown us that you were just as corrupt as Kahn and Shinnok. Shao Kahn would have remained dead, you would go on to become emperor of Outworld and we would never have appeared to you. There are many suitable warriors and other Gods for what we have chosen to do with you, you were just first choice.

She then walked over to him and motioned for the other Gods to follow her. They each placed their hands above his head as their eyes began to glow. Water, fire, and bits of earth began to swarm around him and the rest of the fighters stared on in awe as Raiden's appearance slowly began to change into the form they were greatly familiar with. His wounds from the fight were slowly healed and disappeared and his clothes were replaced with the pristine white robes that they had become so used to seeing him wear.

"What this all means is," She began as she and the rest of the Gods stepped back, "That we have decided to make you one of us."

"Are you insane?!" Another outburst from Shinnok. "You are making _him _an Elder God over the actual winner of the third trial?! You are all still same fools that I remembered, and you wonder why I betrayed you all!"

"Silence!" The fire held his hand back, blasting a stream of fire at the fallen God. Shinnok managed to hold it off with his staff until the other Gods joined in, finally trapping him in a combination of all of their respective elements.

"No one was talking about making him an Elder God. He has no where near the power, the ability or the will to handle that position." The Earth God spoke finally. "We had another plan for him." He turned to face Raiden. "We are offering the position of Thunder God to you. If you choose to accept you will take your place in the pantheon of the Gods and have the chance to gain knowledge and power over and of things that it would take humans lifetimes to even begin to comprehend."

Liu couldn't help but notice how Raiden's eyes would flicker back to him every few seconds as the God spoke. He wished he could see what was going on in the other man's head. This is what they had been waiting for, the mission they had come to complete. They could finally return home. He should be happy, but why did it feel like his heart was going to shatter and spill on the ground the longer he watched them.

"I—I don't know. After being a puppet for my father and brother for so long, I'm not sure how I feel like being a puppet for the heavens." Raiden replied calmly.

"I assure you, you will not be our puppet. You will free will to protect the realm of our choice as you see fit. You will be protecting Earthrealm. It will be very valuable and needs a strong guardian and if I am correct, I believe you already have some attachments to that realm, do you not?"

Raiden looked back at the others, and then locked eyes with Liu. He had to do this. It was the only way he could escape Outworld with his sanity and his soul intact, but he didn't want to do it alone. Deep in his heart, he knew what he was about ask was selfish, but he had finally found someone that understood him, understood everything he's been through and he wasn't about to give that up so easily.

"I will accept your offer, but on one condition."

The Fire God frowned, "You dare make demands of us? From what we've seen of you I thought you would be smarter than that."

Raiden once more bowed his head in respect, "I mean no disrespect, nor do I mean to make demands. I only wish to have a partner in helping me protect Earthrealm. I humbly ask that you bestow the powers of a God onto the shaolin monk Liu Kang, so that he may help me with my protection of Earthrealm."

A chorus of gasps were heard from the rest of the fighters as Liu tried to absorb what he had just heard. The irrational part of him had no problem saying yes if Raiden's request was granted, but the rational part of him knew that there was no way he could say yes. This wasn't his time. This wasn't his place. He just wished he could make his heart understand that.

The three Elder Gods looked at each other, silently communicating their decision of the request amongst themselves. They soon came upon a decision and walked over to Liu. It was the Fire God that spoke, "If it is your wish to join your friend as protector of the realm of Earth than we shall grant you the power to do so, however, I believe you know the rewards and consequences of your acceptance. Choose wisely."

He glanced up at Raiden, his eyes hopeful but Liu could still see the fear and apprehension there, his worry that Liu may not choose to accept his offer. He didn't dare look at the others. He wasn't sure what emotions he would see on their faces and he didn't want to know. He did know one thing. The mission was over. Raiden had become Thunder God, or was at least on on his way to becoming the Thunder God. Looking into Raiden's eyes once more, he knew what he had to do.

It was time to come clean.

"Raiden...I—I can't do this. I cannot become a God."

To Liu's shock, Raiden smiled and nodded at him. "I understand. I do admit it was rather selfish to ask for this without even telling you first, but I couldn't help it. I am sorry about putting you on the spot like that. I still shall see you in Earthrealm, shall I not? From the way you helped me, I feel like you would be a great candidate to represent Earthrealm in the great tournament."

"Thank you, but that isn't why I said no." Liu said gently, he took a deep breath before he continued, "And you won't see me in Earthrealm, at least not for a very long time."

"What?" Raiden said, his voice full of confusion. "What are you talking about Liu?"

Kitana stepped up and put a hand on his shoulder, "Liu are you sure this is such a good idea. We may have completed our mission, but if you tell him everything, we still don't know how it'll affect the future."

"Don't worry, I highly doubt the Elder Gods will allow that now that they're here. They only interfere in situations where they are threatened and I believe what I am about to say will cause them to have to choice but to interfere afterward." He walked over to Raiden and reached up to cup his face in his hand. Raiden smiled and clasped Liu's hand in his own and leaned into the touch.

"So what Shang Tsung said was true..." Jax muttered in awe as he watched the scene play out in front of him. After Shang Tsung was revealed to be the Sub-Zero that they had spoken to earlier that day, Jax knew he wasn't the only one that felt more than a little guilty about how they ganged up on Liu earlier. Even though the sorcerer's words were confirmed, he couldn't find it in himself to be angry about what Liu hid from them.

Liu sighed as he began to speak, "Raiden, I'm sorry but the reason you won't see me in Earthrealm is because my friends and I aren't from this time."

And there it was, that look of pain that Liu had foolishly vowed to never put on Raiden's face again after he was finally forgiven for pushing the other man away after their sparring match. "You are our mentor in the future and the deadly alliance," he gestured to the two sorcerers still encased in ice, "were told by Shinnok that you were once human and traveled back in time to kill you to keep you from becoming Thunder God. Your future self sent us back to protect you and keep them from reaching you until the three trials were completed and you gained your powers."

Raiden jerked away from him violently, his eyes flashing with anger. In that second Liu knew that if Raiden had his powers, he would be nothing but ashes on the ground right now. "How dare you! You mean everything between us, _everything_ was a lie?!"

"No! Of course not!" He tried to reach out to Raiden only to be pushed away. He couldn't leave like this, he couldn't leave Raiden hurting like this. "Everything that happened between us was real. I care a great deal for you Raiden, but you have to understand there was much more at stake here than what was happening between us. I couldn't tell you anything. I couldn't risk our mission."

"Don't you think I understand that now?! I know whatever it was building between us paled in comparison to what you were sent here for, but how am I supposed know that you truly care," His voice dropped to barely above a whisper as he said, "When you've spent all this time lying to me and now when just going to disappear?"

"There was nothing in our plan that told me to start developing feelings for you, but when they appeared after being with you for such a short time, I knew if I left without showing you how I felt, I would regret it forever. You were so much different than your future self, you felt more reachable and I felt closer to you know than I ever did in the future. I don't want to lose this bond between us, not when it's the only thing I'll have left."

Raiden nodded sadly, his anger beginning to drain away with the realization of what was to come. "Of course, with your presence here and you telling me your mission, they have no choice but to reset the time-line to preserve the future."

The water Goddess spoke up then, "He is correct. We cannot allow any altercations of the time-line for better or worse." She looked over at Sub-Zero before waving her hand and the second dragon medallion and the new armor had disappeared and his old armor returned. "Any powers or new skills will remain here since it would possibly upset the balance of good and evil in the future, but since all of you will be transported directly back to your current time, there will be no point in erasing your memories since you will not be able to use anything you learned here to change the future." She paused before looking calmly at Raiden, "However, there is no doubt in our minds that Raiden's feelings for you will cloud his judgment and we need him clear headed and focused, and not pining away for some monk."

"What are you going to do to him?! Causing him more pain shouldn't be the answer if you want him useful to you!" Kung Lao shouted. Liu glanced back at him in surprise. He and Kung Lao had not seen eye to eye on anything since they had started their mission, but he could hear the anger lacing his words and was surprised that he could have so much anger focused on the Elder Gods.

The goddess ignored the outburst and continued on, "The second you step through the portal created by that medallion, the memory of every person you came into contact with while here will be altered, so that no trace of you remains. This ensures that they will not know of your presence until it is the right time."

Liu looked over at Raiden, who head hung in defeat and his fists remained balled at his sides, as if looking for someone to strike. Instead, he calmly walked back over to Liu and embraced him tightly, "You know, I should probably tell you the other reason I asked you for help."

Liu chuckled and shook his head, "With everything I've just said and with what's about to happen, that's the first thing you think of to say to me?"

"Yes, because it makes sense to me now. I felt drawn to you for some reason. It wasn't just your power, but there was something about you that I couldn't help but want to get closer to. I didn't want this to end so quickly. It's why I wanted you to join me as guardian of Earthrealm, but know this, I refuse to forget anything that happened between us. No matter what they do to my mind, know that I will not forget this."

Liu smirked up at him, hoping that the happiness he felt in this moment hid the lingering sadness he still felt inside, "You sound like your future self already. He never stood idly by when he felt there was something he could do, even if it meant defying the Elder Gods."

The portal to take them home stood glowing in the background, its presence a constant reminder of what was to happen in a few moments. For most of them it was a sign that they could go home and get back to fighting against the evil in their time, but for Liu and Raiden, it was a reminder of everything they were going to have to leave behind.

"We will not keep that portal open much longer." The earth God said calmly, "End your goodbyes and return to your realm."

Raiden and Liu locked eyes once again, knowing that it would be the last time for a very long time that they would be able to do so. Liu reached up and wrapped his arms around Raiden's neck, pulling him down to crush their lips together. Raiden's arms tightened around Liu's waist as he put all his energy and passion into the kiss.

When they broke apart, Liu began walking to the portal, only to be stopped by Raiden's voice. "Wait! You came here to make sure I became Thunder God, you shouldn't leave before see what you came for."

As He walked back over to the Elder Gods, Liu and the other fighters turned back as well and watched as the Earth God stood before him, holding a new staff, which sparked brightly with remnants of electricity. "Raiden, son of Shinnok, are you prepared to enter the pantheon of the Gods as the new God of Thunder and protector of the realm of Earth?"

Raiden bowed and stepped forward, "I am."

"Then take this staff and with it you will be granted your reign over thunder and your ascension to the heavens."

When Raiden grasped the staff, a bright bolt of lightning struck the ground and enveloped him completely. He could feel the power begin flow through him and the thunder and lightning become one with his spirit. He could feel his strength began to grow rapidly and his mind fill with knowledge starting from the beginning of time. He fell to his knees as the lightning disappeared, panting harshly as he tried to stand.

"Rise Thunder God! Show us your new strength!" The Fire God commanded.

Raiden stood shakily and turned to Liu and the others, "Well...is this what you came here to see?" Electricity radiated around him constantly. His trademark hat and cape had been placed in their rightful places. Gone were the deep brown eyes that Liu had become become attached to and were replaced by glowing blue pupils he had always recognized him by in the future.

"Yes..."He turned and nodded to the others, slowly following behind them as they walked back to the portal. "I think our time here is finally done."

Raiden watched as the Earthrealm warriors he had begun to call his friends and allies step back through the portal that would take them back to their time and out of his life forever, when it was Liu's turn to step through he couldn't help but call out to him one last time, "Liu! Remember my words!"

Liu looked back and smiled, "I plan on it."

The portal closed instantly behind the monk, the glowing light and the medallion completely disappearing. Raiden took a deep breath as he turned and walked back to the Elder Gods, finally accepting what was about to happen to him. He gave a final glance at his brother, still frozen under the power of the Elder Gods and his father still trapped in his cage and smirked before looking to the Water Goddess, "I'm ready."

Liu gasped as they exited the portal and collapsed in the forest. There was always something about traveling through portals that always set him off balance. He wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to it. As they looked around the clearing where they had returned for their Raiden, they found him a few feet away deep in meditation.

As they began toward him, Kung Lao grabbed Liu's wrist and pulled him back from the others. At Liu's puzzled gaze, he quickly began to speak. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for all the things I said while we were there. I had no right to say anything about the relationship, no matter what it was, between the two of you. I can't imagine how hard it was for you to do what you did back there. I guess that's just another reason why you're the champion my friend." He held out his hand which Liu quickly grasped and shook firmly.

"Thank you Kung Lao. I really appreciate the words. It's all forgiven my friend." He clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on. We should catch up to the others."

They caught up to the others right when Jax decided to break Raiden from his mediation, "Raiden! We're back!" He shouted happily as he clapped the God on the shoulder, "And the next time you decide to send us to the past, I'd appreciate if you gave us a little more information next time."

Raiden chuckled as he stood, "I take it that you did not find my family much to your liking?"

Sonya shook her head in disbelief, "That would be an understatement."

Kitana smiled happily, "It's just good to know that you're going to be alright Raiden. We were worried that we were going to lose you for a bit back there. I wish you would have told us how it would end." She glanced over at Liu who remained silent, "You had all of us on pins and needles."

Raiden looked slightly guilty at her words, "I do apologize for that. I didn't mean to worry all of you." He looked over to the two ice blocks containing the deadly alliance. "How have they managed not to break free yet?" he asked curiously.

Sub-Zero grinned beneath his mask, "Shang Tsung unknowingly teleported me close enough to this village of Cyromancers. Once they figured out I had powers just like them, they were quick to heal me up and give me a bit of a power boost. They should stay that way for a while."

"We need to get them to the Netherrealm." Raiden said. He raised his staff and slammed it into the ground, reactivating the power of the portal they had just used. "Sub-Zero, Kenshi would you mind taking them back to the Netherrealm. If they defrost you two will have the easiest time containing them."

The Lin-Kuei and the swordsman nodded, "It's no problem Raiden." Kenshi replied. He used his telekinesis to levitate the two blocks into the the portal and stepped in after Sub-Zero. "I was glad to be of service to you Lord Raiden." he said as he disappeared in the bright light of the portal.

"Also my lord," Jade said, "The princess and I must take our leave. Queen Sindel is expecting our return. There were apparently some urgent matters that she required our assistance with."

"Very well then. You can use that same portal. It will take you to the nexus where you will have access to a portal back to Edenia."

"Thank you Raiden." Jade said as she bowed and stepped through the portal. Kitana started to follow after her, but turned back to give Liu a tight hug and a gentle smile before she followed her friend into the light.

Liu was about to speak, but was quickly interrupted by Kung Lao. "I'll be taking Jax and Sonya back to the temple. Apparently they have a lead that Kano is nearby and I think there are some things that you two need to discuss, _alone_." He gestured for the two Special Forces agents to follow him. "I'll see you back at the temple Liu."

With the last three fighters gone, the monk and the God were left alone. Raiden looked at Liu with puzzlement, "Well apparently there is something we need to discuss. If Kung Lao's lack of subtlety is anything to go by. You have been silent since you returned. Did something happen to you in the past ?"

_If you only knew! _Liu thought, but instead just shook his head. "No it was nothing."

"It doesn't seem like nothing." He moved closer and Liu felt the hand on his shoulder, the light electric current sending a wave of calm through him, "You don't seem to be too happy to be back."

Liu hesitated with his next words. How does he explain to Raiden what happened? When it was obvious that the Elder Gods had done their jobs with wiping his memory. He was just about to speak when he felt Raiden's lips firmly pressed against his, in his shock he remained motionless until Raiden pulled back, a look of sadness on his face.

"I take it my memory was mistaken then?"

"Y—you remember?" Liu asked nervously, slightly afraid of the answer.

"Remember what?" At the stricken look on Liu's face he quickly continued, "After we defeated Shinnok again and I became an Elder God for that short time, I was equal to them in power, and because of that, anything they had done to me in the past to keep me under control was undone. Apparently something was done to me around the time I accepted my powers because all I kept having these flashes two of us kissing outside of Shinnok's castle before you would disappear suddenly. When I relinquished my status as an Elder God, whatever mental blocks they had placed on me returned, but that memory remained."

Liu couldn't keep the grin off his face as he leaned in for another kiss, this one much slower and easy than the ones they shared in the past. "You don't know how happy your words have just made me." He whispered against his lips, "I thought I could handle it if you couldn't remember, but as soon as I saw you, I wasn't sure if I could anymore. Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"There was never time with the constant threats against Earth, nor did I see a point since you were smitten with Kitana. Besides I wasn't sure what those flashes meant and I didn't want to jeopardize our relationship now by chasing a fading memory." He raised his hand and cupped his cheek and Liu covered his hand and leaned into the touch, just like they had done in the past. "I'm truly sorry I don't remember anymore Liu." Raiden said sadly,"I feel like I'm hurting you by this. I feel like you're being cheated by the fact I have no knowledge of the memories you seem to hold so dear."

Liu smiled and began walking back down the path that would take them back to the temple, "You have some time to spare right? Because I think I have a story that may be able to fill in some of those gaps for you..."


End file.
